A woman and her husband have filed a DePuy hip replacement lawsuit after she suffered and continues to suffer injuries.

Plaintiff Deborah R. says she received a total hip replacement procedure on her right hip in June 2010. According to the DePuy hip replacement lawsuit, DePuy had already received more than 600 complaints saying the device had failed and was defective, but did not disclose that information to Deborah, her doctors or the public.

Following the surgery, Deborah says, she began to feel pain in her right hip and experience difficulty walking. She consulted with a doctor who had Deborah’s blood tested and found elevated blood metal ion levels. She had also developed a pseudotumor.

Due to these issues, her doctor recommended a revision surgery, which Deborah had in August 2017 to remove and replace her DePuy Pinnacle device.

DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit Alleges Defects Were Known

The DePuy hip replacement lawsuit alleges the Pinnacle components’ defects were known to DePuy because their design was based upon the predecessor known as the DePuy ASR.

DePuy recalled more than 93,000 metal-on-metal ASR and ASR XL hip implants because excessive amounts of cobalt and chromium wear from the surface of the parts that rub together. These tiny metal fragments prompt the human body to reject the hip implant, often causing the patient to suffer from pain, looseness, dislocation, and squeaking or popping noises.

Rejection also causes fluid accumulation as the body tries to push out the metal pieces. Nearby soft tissues and bone actually die from the metal reaction.

“By using a metal acetabular liner and a metal femoral ball, the Pinnacle Device forces metal to rub against metal with the full weight and pressure of the human body,” explains the DePuy hip replacement lawsuit.

Reports of failures began flooding in soon after the Pinnacle device was launched. In May 2002, a patient needed revision surgery because the liner disassociated from the cup. Two weeks later, another patient underwent hip revision surgery because the acetabular cup had loosened.

By the end of 2009, DePuy had received nearly 750 reports of failed Pinnacle devices, a number that has since climbed to 1,300.

“Despite its knowledge that the Pinnacle Device had a defect and that it had failed hundreds of times, causing hundreds of patients to undergo the agony of another surgery, DePuy continued to sell the defective hip implant,” says the DePuy hip replacement lawsuit.

Deborah’s complaint alleges DePuy’s greed was the motivation behind keeping the defects concealed. In 2009 alone, DePuy generated more than $5.4 billion in sales for parent company Johnson & Johnson, which sees DePuy as one of its most profitable subsidies.

Not only did DePuy not warn consumers and the health care community of the Pinnacle’s defects, but also kept selling the device to new, unsuspecting patients who had no idea of the Pinnacle’s failure record and the risks they were taking by receiving the hip replacement surgery.

The DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-02783-K in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.