OMAHA, Neb.—A Lincoln man is suing manufacturers he believes had a role to play in the distribution of a contaminated saline syringe used on his wife that he said led to serious medical problems.
An attorney for Ralph Sell filed the lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Lincoln against AM2 PAT Inc.—also known as Sierra Prefilled; B. Braun Medical Inc., whose U.S. corporate headquarters are in Bethlehem, Pa.; and Baxter Healthcare Corp. and its Deerfield, Ill.-based parent company Baxter International, Inc.
Lincoln attorney Corey Stull said a contaminated syringe was used on Sell’s wife, Alice, in December 2007 as she was undergoing cancer treatments. Among other medical problems, he said caused high blood pressure, disorientation and sepsis—a bacterial infection of the body’s blood and tissues.
Alice Sell died in December 2008. Stull said it hasn’t been determined what, if any role the syringe had in the 82-year-old’s death.
“We feel that it is a distinct possibility,” Stull said.
Alice Sell’s immediate cause of death was acute respiratory failure, he said.
Andrea Snowden, a Lincoln attorney representing B. Braun Medical, on Wednesday declined comment on the case.
Officials with AM2 PAT could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A listed phone number in North Carolina rang disconnected, while an Illinois number appeared to be connected to a fax machine. The lawsuit said the company bases its business in Illinois.
Baxter spokeswoman Erin Gardiner said she hadn’t seen the lawsuit yet, but she believes Baxter has no place in it. The company doesn’t sell prefilled saline syringes, she said.
Heparin prefilled flush syringes from AM2 PAT were recalled in December 2007 and January 2008, with saline prefilled syringes included in the second recall because some of the syringes were found to be contaminated with the bacteria Serratia marcescens, which can cause serious injury or death.
Several lawsuits have been filed in other states making similar allegations, but Stull said he was unaware of other lawsuits filed in Nebraska stemming from the saline prefilled syringes.
Sell is seeking unspecified damages, including payment for more than $56,000 in medical costs, according to the lawsuit that was first filed in Lancaster County District Court in January.
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