A new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts on June 6, 2018 alleges that the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head hip prosthetic component is defective.

Plaintiff Jeannine M. and her spouse Al M., Sr. are citizens and residents of the state of Illinois.

Jeannine alleges she had her right hip replaced in a total hip arthroplasty surgery on Nov. 26, 2012 at St. Mary’s Hospital in O’Fallon, Ill. Her orthopedic surgeon chose to implant her with the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head, made of cobalt and chromium, in combination with the Accolade TMZF femoral stem.

Jeannine alleges that she has sustained significant injuries as a result of this the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head prosthetic implantation including pain, inflammation, loss of mobility and ill health. Additionally, she claims economic losses from lost wages and medical bills.

Her husband Al joins this lawsuit against the Howmedica Co., alleging that he suffered a loss of consortium concurrent with his spouse’s injuries.

According to her short-form complaint against the defendant, Jeannine says she couldn’t have known that the post-surgical pain and dysfunction she was experiencing with her right hip was due to a purported defect in the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head until a recall on the prosthetic component was announced.

The plaintiff also says she could not have known that some of the ill health she had been experiencing was related to higher-than-normal levels of cobalt and chromium in her blood. This was confirmed by a blood test and connected to the device after the recall as well, she claims.

She attributes the heavy metal blood poisoning to the prosthetic component’s tendency to shed metal debris into the surrounding tissue of the recipient.

The Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head was the subject of a voluntary recall initiated by the Stryker Howmedica Co. on Aug. 29, 2016. This recall was formalized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 9 of the same year and affected 42,519 units commercially distributed both in the U.S. and abroad.

The stated reason for the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head recall was due to an issue known as taper lock failure, where the junction of the stem and femoral head became disassociated. This problem was linked to the need to have the prosthetic removed and replaced in an early hip revision surgery.

Revision surgery poses additional dangers to patients including loss of bone and surrounding tissue, risk of blood clots and the likelihood of developing leg length discrepancies that exist for the remainder of the patient’s life.

Additionally, the Stryker Howmedica Co. warned that it had received an unusual amount of complaints regarding excessive metallic debris in surrounding tissues along with problems with the joint’s range of motion.

Jeanine carries forward several counts from the long-form complaint for Multidistrict Litigation No. 2768. Some of these include defective design and manufacturing defect, failure to warn and breach of express and implied warranty.

She hopes for compensatory and statutory damages to be assessed that include her costs of litigation. Additionally, she asks for the jury to consider levying punitive damages against the medical device giant.

The Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-11184-IT in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.