A hip implant lawsuit has joined the multi district litigation (MDL) against DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson over allegations that the manufacturers downplayed the serious dangers of the Pinnacle Device.

Plaintiff Dorothy B. of Michigan filed the collective hip lawsuit on behalf of herself and a dozen other plaintiffs who all claim the DePuy Pinnacle hip implant failed due to a defective design.

The plaintiffs allege that had DePuy not concealed the known complications and early failure rate of the Pinnacle Device, they would not have consented to the implantation.

The DePuy lawsuit states that plaintiff Dorothy had a Pinnacle hip implant prematurely fail and required hip revision surgery. She claims that the hip revision surgery has placed her at a higher risk for another unsuccessful implant due to bone and tissue loss. Dorothy further states that the recovery process for hip replacement surgery is long and painful.

According to the metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuit, all of the hip replacement complications suffered by the plaintiffs were a direct result of the unreasonably dangerous nature of the Pinnacle Device.

The plaintiffs are requesting more than $75,000 collectively however they are asking the courts to consider awarding them punitive damages as well. The DePuy hip lawsuit states that the acts of Johnson & Johnson as well as DePuy were “willful, wanton and malicious, and showed a total disregard for human life and human suffering.

Based upon the acts alleged herein, Defendants knew or should have known, that the very patients whose lives were supposed to be improved by the hip implants, would instead be subject to enhanced pain and suffering and duplicative and unnecessary surgeries.”

Prior to surgery, the plaintiffs allege they were unaware of the faulty and defective design of the Pinnacle Device due to DePuy’s failure to warn them.

Hip Implant Complications

In order to have a medical device FDA approved, manufacturers must obtain premarket approval. This is a rigorous process that requires manufacturers to submit a multi-volume application including full reports of all studies and investigations of the device’s safety and effectiveness that have been published or should reasonably be known to the applicant.

However, there is an exception to premarket approval under section 510(k) that allows manufacturers to obtain FDA approval if they claim the product is “substantially equivalent” to a “grandfathered” older hip implant device.

Rather than obtain FDA premarket approval, DePuy’s hip implant was allegedly grandfathered in and did not undergo clinical testing for safety and effectiveness. 

Since its release, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received more than 1,300 reports of severe hip implant side effects including:

• Cobalt poisoning
• Chromium or cobalt leaking into bloodstream
• Metal poisoning
• Tissue death
• Non-cancerous tumors around implant
• Loss of bone strength
• Tissue death
• Cancer

Hip Replacement Lawsuits

Thousands of hip implant lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs who claim the metal-on-metal implants caused serious health complications often times requiring revision surgery. In 2010, DePuy voluntarily recalled more than 93,000 hip implants worldwide.

In general, plaintiffs pursuing Depuy hip implant lawsuits seek financial compensation to help pay for their medical bills as well as for the pain and suffering they have endured. 

Contact a hip implant attorney to find out if you have legal claim.

The Hip Implant Lawsuit MDL is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 3:15-cv-03507-K and MDL No. 3:11-2244 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.