A Tennessee man filed a lawsuit against Biomet, alleging his metal-on-metal hip implant was defective, leading to serious complications.

Plaintiff Joseph B. had a Biomet metal-on-metal hip implant implanted in his right hip in September 2006. However, the implant allegedly failed, requiring revision surgery in 2014.

Revision surgery is the procedure for correcting or replacing a failed  implant. The procedure is more challenging and taxing for doctors.

First, the patient’s tissues tend to be inflamed and possibly scarred from the failed implant. Additionally, there is less of the original bone left since physicians have to cut out some of the bone to accommodate the implant in the first place.

Accusations made in Joseph’s Biomet hip lawsuit echo hundreds of others against Biomet and other manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip implants.

The hip lawsuit alleges that Biomet ignored the ever-increasing number of reports that metal-on-metal hip implants may cause serious complications and fail at a greater rate than other types of hip implants.

Hip implants are designed to replace the head of the upper leg bone and the socket of the pelvis when the joint wears out. This joint often wears out in older individuals due to age, injury, or disease.

Designing a hip implant takes special care to the interfacing surface — the part of the joint where the leg bone moves against the hip bone. In most hip implants, the interfacing surface is ceramic or polymer, designed to withstand the friction and abuse of constant movement.

However, in the early 2000s, a number of major medical companies, including Biomet, began to release metal-on-metal hip implants.

In metal-on-metal hip implants, the interfacing surface is made of metals like the rest of the implant. Allegedly, this is a design flaw that promotes a huge range of complications.

Metal-on-metal hip implants reportedly have a higher failure rate than other hip implants. Additionally, it has been alleged that in metal-on-metal hip implants, the metal interfacing surfaces grind away at each other, creating microscopic flecks of metal.

While the metals that comprise metal-on-metal hip implants are certified as safe for use in the human body, hip implant lawsuits claim these metals are more reactive when ground up, and dissolve more easily, forming dangerous metal ions.

The Biomet Metal Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 3:15-cv-00467 filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division.