A Rhode Island man has filed a hip implant failure lawsuit over a DePuy Pinnacle device he received in 2007.

Plaintiff Anthony L. claims that by the time he received his DePuy Pinnacle hip implant, Johnson & Johnson had received more than 600 reports that the device had failed.

This information was kept from the plaintiff, other implant recipients and the medical community, the hip implant failure lawsuit states.

Hip Replacement Surgery

The natural hip is finely tuned mechanism. The hip joint consists of the femoral head (a ball-like mechanism at the top of the femur) that rotates around the acetabulum (the cup-like part at the bottom of the pelvis.)

A healthy person’s hip consists of a strong femur and a strong acetabulum that are cushioned and lubricated by cartilage and fluids, which allow ease of movement.

Hip replacement surgery involves removing the head of the femur and the acetabulum and replacing them with artificial parts.

Metal on Metal Hip Replacement

The Pinnacle metal on metal hip replacement system consists of four components: the metal femoral stem, which is inserted inside the femur bone; the metal femoral head (ball) connects to the top of the stem and makes contact with a liner, which is inserted into the interior portion of the metal acetabulum cup (socket).

The acetabulum cup is made of titanium metal on the outer shell. With the cobalt-chromium liner, there is no way to prevent metal from rubbing against metal. This causes corrosive metal shavings to travel throughout the body and is just one reason Anthony filed the hip implant failure lawsuit.

Hip Implant Failure Lawsuit Allegations

In October 2007, Anthony underwent a total hip replacement procedure on his left hip. His doctor implanted a DePuy Pinnacle device.

Following the surgery, Anthony developed pain in his left hip. Blood tests showed elevated metal levels. Anthony’s doctor felt that because of the metal poisoning and the increasing pain, these hip replacement problems might be resolved with another surgery.

In April 2016, Anthony endured another surgery on his left hip. The DePuy Pinnacle device was removed.

Patients who undergo a revision surgery nearly four times as likely to suffer from hip dislocation than those who have not.

Even after removal, Anthony continues to suffer from pain, emotional distress and economic damages, including medical bills, according to his claim. These issues are only a few of the reasons he has filed a hip implant failure lawsuit.

Pinnacle History of Problems

DePuy distributed a brochure in 2001 that pointed out the flaws of hip implant parts manufactured by competitors. The metal on metal implants that existed then are the same devices that DePuy used as the blueprint for their own Pinnacle implant’s design, the lawsuit points out.

Because DePuy used a template that already had a high failure rate, the lawsuit alleges that the company should have known the same failures, metal poisoning and need for revision surgery would haunt this “new” product as well.

If you or someone you know has had a metal on metal hip replacement and suffered from hip replacement problems, you could benefit from a hip implant failure lawsuit against the device’s manufacturer.

The Pinnacle Hip Implant Failure Lawsuit is Case No. 3:16-cv-01990, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.