The DePuy metal on metal hip prosthetic known as the Pinnacle Hip Implant System is the subject of a new lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, on May 16, 2018.

Plaintiff John W. alleges injury as a direct consequence of having the DePuy metal on metal hip implanted on the right side of his pelvic cage in October 2016. John is a citizen and resident of Rockford, Ill.

The plaintiff is holding DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. as well as Johnson & Johnson Inc., its parent company, liable for his purported injuries from the DePuy metal on metal hip system. After a reasonable amount of time had lapsed for recovery from his total hip arthroscopy (THA), John says he continued to experience a high level of pain.

Allegedly accompanying this pain was an obvious degree of swelling and inflammation which interfered with the plaintiff’s ability to ambulate. According to the DePuy metal on metal hip lawsuit, John’s blood was being infiltrated with cobalt and chromium debris which was being released from the Pinnacle Hip Implant System through a slow corrosive process.

The debris from the DePuy metal on metal hip was also lodging in the soft and bony tissues surrounding the prosthetic.

While John couldn’t have known the problems developing on the inside, he says his daily experience of inflammation and pain with sitting, standing, and walking eventually lead him decide to have the Pinnacle Hip Implant System removed and replaced.

He believes the developers and manufacturers of the DePuy metal on metal hip should have known the potential downfalls of their design and provided a warning to would-be consumers.

John is bringing several counts against the defendants with this case which joins others under the umbrella of multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2244. Among those counts are allegations of negligence, design and manufacturing defects, failure to warn, and fraudulent concealment.

He is seeking a positive judgment on his behalf through a jury trial with a compensatory award for his pain and suffering. John hopes for due consideration for all his monetary losses from hospitalizations, surgeries, ongoing medical care, lost wages, and cost of litigation.

He also hopes the court will assess punitive damages against the defendants to discourage reckless disregard for the health and well-being of consumers in the future.

The History of the Pinnacle Hip Implant System

The Pinnacle Hip Implant System was approved through the 510(k) program by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the year 2000.

This program is allegedly a loophole whereby the FDA makes commercially allows a medical device to be sold based upon the performance of a similar, already marketed ‘predicate’ device. There is no proof of safety requirement for this program, so the drug oversight agency makes no such claim.

The defendants were able to sell over 150,000 Pinnacle hips by fostering the idea of prosthetic superiority in their advertising campaigns. Claims were made that of those prosthetics implanted, nearly 100 percent remained in use.

According to the lawsuit, John W. discovered that, in fact, over 1,300 adverse medical events concerning the DePuy metal on metal hip were reported to the FDA.

When failure reports from a variety of metal on metal hip implants started to pour in, the FDA tightened up its hip prosthetic requirements and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. ceased to sell the Pinnacle Hip Implant System.

The DePuy Lawsuit is Case No. 3:18-cv-01262-K in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.