Stephanie Brigham is suing Wal-mart and Heatmax for a horrifying reason: The hand warmers she bought to ease the pain of her breast lift did exactly the opposite. Instead of decreasing the pain, they burned painful holes in her breasts.
Here’s what happened after Brigham started using the warmers:
After a few days, she realized her pain was increasing, not decreasing. She discovered that the warmers had burnt two large holes in each of her breasts. She was admitted to the burn unit of a local hospital soon after. A plastic and reconstructive surgeon later concluded she had breast scars “consistent with a contact burn.”
Terrifying. Brigham is now suing both Wal-Mart (who carried the products) and the company who manufactured them for “negligent design, negligent instruction and strict liability claims.” Heatmax has stated that there’s a warning label on their products stating that consumers shouldn’t apply the product to bare skin, but Brigham says that there’s no such warning on the box. She claims that the hand warmers produce much more heat than neccessary. The company, however, will likely argue that Brigham used the product in a way that it wasn’t intended.
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