Hernia Mesh Infection, Erosion Into Bowels Results in Lawsuit Against Atrium Medical

A product liability lawsuit filed by a Pennsylvania man indicates that complications with Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh caused him to suffer a severe infection and painful injuries when the patch eroded into his bowels, resulting in the need for emergency surgery to remove the surgical mesh.

The complaint (PDF) was filed late last month by by Leonard Bartosiewicz in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, indicating that Atrium Medical Corp sold a defective and unreasonably unsafe hernia repair mesh, which was likely to injury patients.

Bartosiewicz had Atrium C-Qur mesh implanted in June 2011, during an incisional hernia repair. In about June 2016, he indicates that he began to suffer hernia mesh infection and erosion into his bowels, which was allegedly caused by the design of the C-Qur patch.

As a result, he had to undergo an emergency exploratory laparotomy, during which surgeons removed the C-Qur mesh and resected a part of his bowels. However, he had to undergo an extensive wound care course that involved “aggressive antibiotic therapy,” according to the lawsuit, which claims that he has been permanently disfigured and debilitated by the experience.

Atrium C-Qur mesh, which is pronounced “secure”, was approved by the FDA on March 2006, for use in hernia repair, chest wall reconstruction and to repair traumatic or surgical wounds. The polypropylene mesh contains an Omega-3 gel coating, which was designed to reduce scar tissue formation while promoting fixation of the mesh to the abdominal wall. However, a number of individuals have experienced problems, where the fish oil coating causes an inflammatory response that incites an inflammatory response that actually promotes bowel adhesion and causes other painful complications.

“The C-Qur Mesh implanted in Plaintiff Leonard Bartosiewicz failed to reasonably perform as intended. The mesh caused serious injury and had to be surgically removed via invasive surgery, and necessitated additional invasive surgery to repair the hernia that the C-QUR was initially implanted to treat,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiff Leonard Bartosiewicz’s severe adverse reaction, and the necessity for surgical removal of the C-Qur Mesh, directly and proximately resulted from the defective and dangerous condition of the product and Defendants’ defective and inadequate warnings about the risks associated with the product.”

The case joins a growing number of Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh lawsuits filed in courts throughout the U.S., each raising similar claims that the manufacturer knew or should have known about the risk of problems associated with the hernia patch and large number of adverse events reported. However, inadequate warnings were provided and the manufacturer failed to issue any official Atrium C-Qur hernia mesh recall, according to complaints filed in courts nationwide, instead choosing to withhold information from consumers and quietly remove certain products from the market.

Given the similar questions of fact and law raised in dozens of cases filed throughout the federal court system, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) decided to consolidate all hernia mesh lawsuits filed against Atrium last month, centralizing claims before U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty in the District of New Hampshire, for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

As additional hernia mesh lawyers continue to review and file complaints in the coming months and years, they will be transferred to Judge McCafferty for coordinated handling during discovery and a series of early “bellwether” trials, which are designed to gauge how juries are likely to respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be repeated throughout the litigation. However, if Atrium CQur mesh settlements or another resolution is not reached following the MDL proceedings, each individual case may be remanded back to the U.S. District Court where it was originally filed for a separate trial date.