In October 2021, a U.S. federal judge ruled that Philips must face dozens of lawsuits over its faulty Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or CPAP DreamStation machines for sleep apnea.
Philips’ DreamStation CPAP machines were recalled in June 2021. More than 3 million of the company’s CPAP devices that were made prior to April 2021 were recalled. The recall was issued over concerns that users of the device could be exposed in the respiratory system to potentially cancer-causing compounds in noise-reduction foam.
Millions of Philips CPAP devices have been sold, which may result in the company potentially facing thousands more lawsuits. Philips blamed the faulty device on SoClean, which supplied Philips with ozone, which can be a highly reactive and unstable gas that causes smog outside of its usual environment, the ozone layer of the atmosphere.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when inhaled, ozone can damage the lungs, and even inhaling low amounts of the gas can cause chest pain, coughing, shortness of breath and throat irritation. The EPA adds that inhaling ozone may worsen chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma and compromise the immune system.
In turn, SoClean filed suit in October 2021 against Philips. In a complaint filed in December, SoClean accused Philips of engaging in a deliberate cover-up and initiating a “dishonest smear campaign against SoClean to shirk responsibility and accountability for its own corporate malfeasance.”
Complaints against Philips over foam inhalation date back to 2015, before SoClean’s ozone sanitizer machines—used to disinfect CPAP machines—were introduced to the market. SoClean is seeking $200 million in damages.
If you have been harmed by a company’s defective medical device, you need an experienced personal injury attorney. A personal injury attorney identifies potential liabilities in the product and the extent of the physical, psychological and emotional damages you can recover as a result of your injuries.
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