3M Win Upheld in First Warming Blanket Test Trial

3M Co. and its unit Arizant Healthcare Inc. held onto a win in the first test trial over the Bair Hugger surgical warming blanket.

About 4,900 claims by plaintiffs alleging the system caused them to develop severe infections following surgery are pending in multidistrict litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

The Bair Hugger is a portable heater/blower connected by a hose to a disposable blanket positioned over or under patients. It warms patients by blowing heated air on their skin.

But design flaws allow contaminants to recirculate in operating room air and to be deposited ...