A New York couple has filed a DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuit against the manufacturers of the husband’s hip replacement system, claiming that he was forced to undergo early revision surgery as a result of a defective device.

Plaintiffs Norman B. and Denise B. claim in their DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuit that the husband was implanted with a DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement system in his right hip in August 2008.

Patients who receive joint replacement surgery such as Norman’s hip replacement can expect that their device will last for twenty years or maybe longer. However, in March 2017 Norman was forced to undergo a hip revision surgery on his right hip to repair his DePuy Pinnacle device.

Revision surgery is often plagued by more complications than original arthroplasty surgery. It is costly and may require more recovery time.

Norman and Denise’s DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuit alleges that Norman “has suffered and continues to suffer both injuries and damages, including but not limited to: past, present and future physical and mental pain and suffering and debility; and past, present and future medical, hospital, rehabilitative and pharmaceutical expenses, lost wages, and other related damages.”

Allegedly, DePuy concealed the defects of their Pinnacle hip system, yet continued to sell this defective device. Norman and Denise also claim that DePuy knew about the early failure rate and about the known complications and unreasonable risks associated with the Pinnacle device.

Their DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit states that the plaintiffs did not know about the risks and defects of the Pinnacle hip system and had they known about the problems that were possible, they would have never consented to use that device.

The DePuy Pinnacle Device

According to this DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuit, the Pinnacle device was “developed for the purpose of reconstructing diseased human hip joints from conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, avascular necrosis, fracture and other degenerative conditions.”

These hip replacement systems manufactured by DePuy are made up of four different components. At the top of the femur bone of the patient, a femoral stem is implanted. The metal femoral head (at the top of the stem) is a ball that fits inside the metal acetabular cup. This is also made of metal, usually titanium.

A liner is placed in the acetabular cup. This liner is often made of cobalt-chromium, but can be made of other materials such as plastic or ceramic.  When the patient moves his or her leg, the metal femoral head rotates inside the acetabular cup.

If this cup is made of metal, this is considered a metal-on-metal hip replacement. Metal-on-metal hip replacement systems can cause a host of problems for the patient, the most prevalent being metallosis.

With metallosis, metal shards can be shed into the surrounding tissue and blood and cause tissue death or a poisoning of the blood. This metal poisoning can also cause degenerative heart disease, cardiomyopathy, non-cancerous tumors, pain, swelling and inflammation. In some cases, this may cause premature failure and may require revision surgery.

This DePuy Pinnacle Hip Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-01218-WKS in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.