A husband and wife team have filed a Biomet hip lawsuit, alleging that Biomet and related companies made a dangerous metal hip joint.

Plaintiffs Carol B. and Dan B. of Topeka, Kansas, filed their Biomet hip lawsuit alleging the company made a defective metal-on-metal hip joint.

In January 2009, Carol B.’s surgeons performed a procedure to replace both her left and right hip joints with Biomet’s metal-on-metal hip implants. However, Carol B. allegedly suffered severe pain after she received her hip implants.

Per the text of their Biomet hip lawsuit, Carol B. ultimately had to have revision surgery on both hips in January and February of 2015 to replace the metal-on-metal hip implants. The Biomet hip lawsuit claims that during the replacement surgery, doctors allegedly noted damage to the soft tissue around the joint, as well as signs of metallosis and cobalt/chromium ion poisoning.

Carol’s Biomet hip lawsuit alleges that the Biomet metal-on-metal hip implants were defective, and that Biomet knew they were. The lawsuit states: “Biomet sold the hip implant to plaintiff after it knew it was defective, that it had injured others, and that it could injure her.”

Additionally, the Biomet hip implant lawsuit further alleges that “as numerous failures of Hip Implant systems were reported to Biomet, it continued to actively promote, market and defend the defective products.”

Th Problem with Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants

While hip implants were invented decades ago, metal-on-metal hip implants like the Biomet hip implant at the crux of this Biomet lawsuit are more recent inventions.

Under the FDA’s 501(k) program, many metal-on-metal hip implants were able to skip certain steps of the FDA’s regular approval process, on the grounds that they were “substantially similar” to existing models. However, by the late 2000s and early 2010s, metal-on-metal hip implants faced recalls and hip implant lawsuits across different brands and models, including Biomet.

Allegedly, metal-on-metal hip implants fail more often than their non-metal counterparts. Metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuits allege that the metal surfaces of the joint rubbing together makes these implants fail at a higher rate than other types of hip implants, sometimes leading to revision surgery.

The text of this Biomet hip lawsuit asserts that the grinding of the metal surfaces against each other can shave off microscopic amounts of cobalt and chromium, encouraging corrosion and immune reactions from the patient. The Biomet lawsuit states that the metals may kill tissue around the metal-on-metal hip implant.

The text of the Biomet hip implant lawsuit states that revision surgery is more technically challenging than regular hip replacement surgery. This is because there is less of the original joint left, and there may be tissue damage. These factors make it harder to safely anchor the new implant.

The Hip implant lawsuit also states that a study at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that patients who had revision surgery were almost four times as likely to suffer dislocations of their hip implants.

Carol’s hip lawsuits seeks compensation for medical costs, legal costs, and other costs allegedly stemming from her alleged Biomet hip implant complications.

The Biomet Hip Lawsuit is Carol B., et al, vs. Biomet Orthopedics LLC, et al., Case No. 0518, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division.