Complaints alleging that Stryker’s LFIT series of artificial hips are defective have become a multi-district litigation.

Howmedica Osteonics, Stryker Orthopaedics, and Stryker Corp., known together as “Stryker” have been hit with a multi-district litigation alleging that the company’s LFIT series of artificial hips and artificial hip parts are defective and cause injury to people in whom they are installed.

The multidistrict litigation alleges that Stryker knew the hip systems were defective and knowingly endangered consumers.

The hip parts and models involved in the litigation include the products sold under the name “LFIT CoCr V40 Femoral Head” and its compatible femoral stem piece.

The Stryker multidistrict litigation alleges that many consumers have suffered bodily injury and financial damages as a result of having Stryker hips installed. The litigation claims that the Stryker hip can cause the following:

• Disassociation of femoral head from hip stem
• Fracturing of the hip stem
• Production of metallic debris from the step that enter’s a person’s body
• A lack of range of motion
• Insufficient tension with soft tissue
• Audible noise
• Lack of bone fixation strength with the implant
• Excessive polymeric debris from wear
• Shortened neck strength of implant

According to the litigation, Stryker received clearance from the FDA for the Stryker LFIT Hip Replacement from the FDA in April of 2001, and notes that the type of clearance the product received does not necessitate that the product be clinically tested or tested in any single human before being released to the market.

The litigation goes on to note that in August 2006, the company received the same level of FDA clearance for a compatible femoral head to the Stryker LFIT hip replacement released in 2001. The new part was allegedly not subjected to clinical trials or human test subjects before being released on the market.

Allegedly, the two parts can only be used together and are not designed to function with another commercial hip replacement. The litigation alleges that the two pieces are poorly designed, and are designed with incompatible materials, and their incompatibility leads to the materials wearing on one another.

The wear then allegedly causes metal and polymeric debris to be produced and released into a person’s body. Allegedly, in some extreme circumstances, such extensive corrosion occurs that the femoral head falls entirely off of the stem, an event known as “catastrophic dislocation.”

The Stryker LFIT Hip Replacement litigation claims that consumers have suffered and continued to suffer both injuries and damages, including, but not limited to: bodily injury; severe pain and suffering; emotional distress; disability; physical impairment; disfigurement; mental anguish; inconvenience; aggravation of a pre-existing condition; loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life; the costs of medical care and expenses; loss of earnings; and loss of the ability to earn money, all of which damages and losses will continue in the future.

One plaintiff, Samuel B., recently filed an individual complaint that was added to the multi-district litigation. He had his Stryker LFIT hip replacement installed in 2012 and removed in 2016 due to injuries caused by the product’s defect.

He claims that he could not have known that the product was defective when he agreed to have it installed, nor could have known that the product would fret metals into his blood stream, causing him to have elevated levels of chromium and cobalt in his body.

The Stryker LFIT Hip Replacement Multi-District Litigation is Case No: 17-md-2768-IT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.