A DePuy hip lawsuit has been filed by a South Carolina man with a request to be transferred into the ongoing Pinnacle Hip Implant multidistrict litigation.

Plaintiff Michael J. filed the metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and its parent company Johnson & Johnson after toxic levels of cobalt were found in his bloodstream, forcing him to undergo a second hip revision surgery. Michael alleges that DePuy negligently under-reported and downplayed the serious dangers of the Pinnacle hip implant.

In 2004, Michael opted to have Pinnacle hip implant surgery based on the defendants claims in promotional materials that “99.9% of Pinnacle Hip components are still in use today.” Michael alleges that he was unaware that DePuy did not seek premarket approval from the FDA nor that the FDA made no determination whether or not the Pinnacle hip implant was safe or effective.

According to the hip implant lawsuit, it wasn’t until Michael began experiencing pain in his hip, leg, and thigh that it was discovered that particulate debris from the Pinnacle hip implant caused severe inflammation, severe pain, tissue, and bone loss.

The DePuy lawsuit states, “had defendants not concealed the known defects, the early failure rate, the known complications and the unreasonable risks associated with the use of the Pinnacle device, plaintiff would have not consented to the Pinnacle device being used in his total hip arthroplasty,” the plaintiff alleges. 

Michael is seeking $75,000 for the damages he sustaining including: loss of earnings, medical expenses, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life.

DePuy Hip Implant Complications

More than 500,000 U.S. patients have had hip replacement surgery hoping for an improved quality of life. According to the hip implant lawsuit, the Pinnacle device was marketed with virtually no clinical FDA review of safety based on the defendants’ claim that the product was “substantially equivalent” to another older metal-on-metal hip implant device.

After more than 1,300 adverse report failures or hip implant complications reported to the FDA, the agency issued a voluntary recall of hip implants. In 2010, the defendants recalled more than 93,000 ASR hip implants worldwide.

The most commonly reported hip implant side effects include:

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

Metal-on-Metal Hip Implant Lawsuits

Thousands of hip replacement lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs like Michael who had to undergo a second hip revision surgery after the product allegedly caused severe side effects. A typical DePuy hip lawsuit claims that the manufacturers failed to warn of any serious hip implant complications. In 2013, Johnson & Johnson settled 7,500 hip implant lawsuits for $2.5 billion dollars.

The DePuy hip lawsuit is Case No. 3:15-cv-02201-K in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division and the Hip Implant MDL is In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation MDL Case No. 3:11-MD-2244-K.