Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that impacts millions of Americans each year. According to the Mayo Clinic, apnea occurs when a person’s breathing stops multiple times per night. In fact, sleep studies show that severe sleep apnea patients can stop breathing 30 times or more per hour. CPAPs are often prescribed to sufferers as a means of treating this disorder.
If you or someone you love got sick or injured after using a CPAP, call Judd Shaw Injury Law immediately. You may be eligible to receive compensation for any losses you sustained, and you can be confident that we will deliver the “wow” alongside the rest of our core values offering you quality legal service.
Call Judd Shaw Injury Law today at 1-866-909-6894 for a free consultation. There is no fee for our services unless you win your case!
What is a CPAP Machine?
The term CPAP is short for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. When a person has sleep apnea, he or she stops breathing while asleep due to a variety of health-related reasons. In most cases, the airways become blocked for several seconds, which forces the brain to stay active. This sequence repeats as many as 100 times over the course of the night.
The CPAP machine was developed to force air through the blockage, allowing it to stay open. Patients then are allowed to get a full night’s sleep. CPAPs pull air in through a filter. Depending on the model of the machine, it has a reservoir of warm water to keep the air from being too dry. It then forces the air back out through a long hose and into the patient’s nose and/or mouth via a mask.
Problems With CPAP Machines
In 2021, the FDA warned consumers about a recall of CPAP machines manufactured by Philips Respironics. This is due to many lawsuits that were filed against the company for breaching duty of care. The suits alleged that the polyurethane foam used in the machines degraded and created a toxic breathing hazard. Testing done on this material found it was toxic and even possibly carcinogenic.
After breathing in this toxin, consumers complained of symptoms of exposure. These symptoms ranged from moderate to severe and even caused death in some users.
The reported illnesses caused by Philips Respironics CPAP machines include:
- Onset or worsening asthma
- Pneumonia
- Bronchitis
- Respiratory irritation
- Reactive airway disease (RAD)
- Acute respiratory failure
- Headaches
- Dizziness
- Inflammation
- Sinus infections
- Eye infections
- Skin infections
- Sensitivity
- Non-cancerous tumors and cysts
- Organ failure
Along with these ailments, claims were made that the recalled devices also caused several types of cancer, including:
- Leukemia
- Lymphatic cancer
- Breast cancer
- Blood cancer
- Bladder cancer
- Thyroid cancer
- Liver cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Lung cancer
Did Philips Respironics Breach Their Duty of Care?
Companies that create and manufacture products for consumers have a duty of care to consumers. They are legally responsible for releasing items deemed safe to the market, so as not to risk the health of the patients who use them. Knowingly releasing toxic products for profit is not only dangerous but reprehensible.
Many of the patients who sued Philips Respironics made the claim that they knew of the risks caused by the PE-PUR foam. Not only did the company fail to put out a timely recall, but they also hid the facts from consumers. The lawsuits allege that Philips Respironics was even dishonest about their products in order to maintain sales. Whether Philips Respironics breached duty of care will depend on the outcome of the lawsuits which are currently being litigated.
Who Qualifies for Filing a CPAP Lawsuit?
As of this writing, over 110 cases have been pulled together into a multidistrict lawsuit. Attorneys all over the country have begun accepting cases from other victims of Philips Respironics’ alleged negligence. If you have suffered injuries after using a CPAP by this company, call Judd Shaw Injury Law right away. You may be entitled to make a claim.
Anyone who suffered any type of loss or injury from any recalled CPAP machines between 2009 and 2021 may qualify. The devices in the recall list include:
- Continuous Ventilators
- A-Series BiPAP V30 Auto
- A-Series BiPAP A40
- A-Series BiPAP A30
- C-Series ASV
- C-Series S/T and AVAPS
- DreamStation ASV
- DreamStation ST, AVAPS
- E30
- Garbin Plus, Aeris, LifeVen
- OmniLab Advanced+
- SystemOne ASV4
- Trilogy 100
- Trilogy 200
- Noncontinuous Ventilators
- Dorma 400
- Dorma 500
- DreamStation
- DreamStation Go
- REMstar SE Auto
Why File a CPAP Lawsuit?
CPAPs were designed to help improve the health of users by allowing them to get a full night’s sleep. When the opposite happens and a person’s health is negatively impacted, it can cause many negative side effects, including cancer. Many CPAP users who were harmed by one of these defective machines faced incredible losses.
If you are someone who was injured by a Philips CPAP, you are not alone. If Philips Respironics is found to have acted negligently, you can be compensated for the injuries that altered your life. Joining the lawsuit against this company is the only way to repair some of the damage caused.
Some of the losses you can be compensated for include:
- Medical bills
- Treatment costs
- Loss of income
- Loss of earning capacity
- Rehabilitation
- Disability
- Pain and suffering
- Home care nurses
- Diminished quality of life
- Mental anguish
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Wrongful death
Should You Hire a Lawyer to File a CPAP Claim?
As a US citizen, you always have the right to represent yourself in any legal matter. The difficulty here with personal injury cases is the complexity of the situation. The average person does not know the law well enough to be fully prepared to face opposition in big cases.
What’s more, you cannot just make a claim without fully backing it up with evidence. This is especially true if you are joining a massive multidistrict class-action lawsuit.
Winning a CPAP claim will require you to prove that:
- Philips Respironics had a duty of care to customers
- Philips Respironics breached the duty of care
- Philips Respironics continued to push their machines even after harmful substances were discovered
- You were harmed in some way by the CPAP machine
- You can back up your claims of being harmed
- You sustained losses as a result of Philips Respironics’ negligence
Highly trained attorneys with experience know exactly how to win big personal injury cases. They have faced powerful corporations and insurance companies.
Steps to Make Your CPAP Injury Claim Easier to Win
Winning compensation for personal injury requires knowledge, evidence, and experience. To make things easier for you in the courtroom, there are steps you can take to help bolster your case.
Make sure to:
- See your doctor. you need documented evidence of diagnosis and treatment
- Keep all documents. Receipts, bills, pay stubs, and more can all be useful in showing your losses
- Call an attorney. Having an experienced attorney improves your chances of winning
Call Judd Shaw Injury Law Today to Join the List of CPAP Injury Claimants
Life with sleep apnea is not easy, and now you may feel even more disappointed with your situation. After all, you turned to a proven treatment, only to develop a dangerous or even deadly illness. But there is hope! You do not have to face this crisis alone.
Judd Shaw Injury Law, an experienced team of attorneys and our supporting staff, are ready to go to battle for you and your family. If you have suffered any losses after using a Philips CPAP machine, call us today.
You deserve the chance to find real justice after everything you have gone through. To get started, call Judd Shaw Injury Law today at 1-866-909-6894. We work on a contingency basis, which means you will not have to pay unless you win.