Personal Injury Lawyers > Personal Injury Blog > Recalled Products > Recall of Alcohol Wipes due to Contaminated Pads and Wipes Scandal

Personal Injury Blog

Recall of Alcohol Wipes due to Contaminated Pads and Wipes Scandal

A Wisconsin-based company that announced a massive recall of  alcohol wipes and contaminated pads earlier this year, has announced yet another recall of alcohol prep pads for contamination involving different bacteria.  H&P Industries Inc. is the parent company of the Triad Group, which had recalled millions of alcohol prep pads and swabs earlier this year.

This latest recall involves several lots of povidine iodine prep pads that are used to clean cuts, scrapes and burns and prevent infections.  According to the recall notice by the Food And Drug Administration, the pads are contaminated by an organism called Elizabethkingia meningoseptica.  The organism can cause serious infections, including meningitis in newborn infants and pneumonia in patients who are on ventilators.  This organism has also been linked to flesh-eating bacteria disease.  According to the company, the recall was initiated after the contamination was found during tests that the Food and Drug Administration conducted, as well as the company’s own internal investigations.

The iodine prep pads were marketed under the names Medical Specialties, Cardinal Health, Triad, Triad Class, Total Resources and North Safety.  In January, Triad Group had announced a recall of hundreds of millions of contaminated alcohol prep pads and wipes because of potentially dangerous bacterial contamination.  Those pads were believed to be contaminated with the bacteria Bacillus cereus.

The company already faces lawsuits from people who have suffered infections from the contaminated wipes.  That includes a lawsuit filed by the family of a two-year-old boy in Houston Texas, who contracted a deadly meningitis infection in the hospital.  The boy had been admitted to the hospital for another condition, and was due to be discharged, when he contracted the infection.  He died soon after.  His parents did not link his fatal infection to the alcohol prep pads that were used before the surgery.  However, when Triad Group announced a recall of contaminated alcohol prep pads, the parents were able to make the connection between their child’s death and the contaminated pads.  Several other persons who suffered infections from the use of the contaminated pads have come forward to file lawsuits against Triad Group.

Soon after, MSNBC found that the Food and Drug Administration had been aware for years that the sterility and hygiene conditions at Triad Group’s Wisconsin plant, were less than optimum.  The company knew back in 2009, that there were serious sterility issues at the plant, but no action was taken.  Last month, Triad Group announced that it was shutting down the line that produced the contaminated alcohol wipes, as well as batches of contaminated lubricant jelly.

This new episode of contamination by the same company is bound to raise concerns among Los Angeles personal injury attorneys about the Food and Drug Administration’s tardiness in responding to patient safety concerns.  It seems clear that the agency failed to take the safety issues surrounding the Wisconsin plant seriously enough.

 

---