A Michigan resident claims that DePuy Orthopaedics (DePuy) and Johnson & Johnson concealed the known defects, early failure rate, and unreasonable risks associated with the Pinnacle hip implant.

The hip implant lawsuit filed by plaintiff Elizabeth B. alleges that she sustained severe hip replacement complications as a direct result of DePuy and Johnson & Johnson’s defective manufacturing and marketing of the Pinnacle implant.

Elizabeth underwent a total hip arthroplasty procedure on her right hip in June 2009 where she received the Pinnacle hip implant metal insert. Shortly after the hip replacement, Elizabeth began to experience inflammation and pain, showing signs of metallosis — a build-up of metal debris in the soft tissues of the body. As a result, in March 2015, she underwent hip revision surgery to replace the right implant.

Elizabeth alleges DePuy was aware that Pinnacle hip implants may result in unsafe release of toxic metal ions into the hip implant recipients’ tissue and bloodstream that could result in metallosis tissue death, bone erosion, and development of tumors.

The hip lawsuit further alleges that Elizabeth received a defective hip implant and she seeks to recover for “bodily injuries, lost wages, physical and mental pain, past and future medical expenses, past and future pain and suffering, increased risk of future harm and permanent injury.”

Elizabeth’s Depuy hip lawsuit joins more than 7,000 other lawsuits pending against the hip manufacturer over its metal-on-metal replacement hip.

DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant Litigation

Metal hip replacement systems gained popularity as younger patients increased to make up a larger portion of the population to undergo hip replacements. After they became common in the marketplace, it was discovered that metal-on-metal hip devices contribute to a variety of serious hip replacement complications.

In May 2011, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) consolidated federal DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuit complaints into multidistrict litigation. Known as MDL 2244, the centralized litigation is located in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and is presided over by Judge Ed Kinkeade.

The goal of the DePuy Pinnacle MDL is to consolidate pending hip implant lawsuits. An MDL helps streamline legal processes, reduce costs, and minimize contradictory and duplicate rulings.

A significant number of the patients who receive a metal on metal hip face the prospect of revision surgery due to high rates of early failure. Injuries from metal hip replacements systems like the DePuy Pinnacle hip include pain, inflammation, tumors, allergic reactions, neurological and endocrine problems, and migration of metal particles into the tissues surrounding the hip.

In dispute in the MDL lawsuits is whether the metal hip design was unreasonably dangerous, whether DePuy or Johnson & Johnson knew about its high failure rate and whether they chose not to warn the public about it.

The DePuy Pinnacle Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 3:15-cv-03500-K and MDL No. 2244 in the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.