Husband and Wife Sues DePuy for Pinnacle Device Injuries
By Dominic Rivera
Jeff Knotts and Sheila Knotts of West Virginia have filed a hip implant lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics claiming that Sheila suffered degenerative pain, soreness and difficulty walking allegedly brought by Pinnacle Device that was implanted on her.
The lawsuit states that as per the filing of the complaint, Sheila’s pain has increased from intermittent to continuous resulting in the plaintiff engaging in intra-articular injections for the management of pain.
DePuy is the manufacturer of the Pinnacle Hip Implant Device. It was designed, developed, and sold for human hip joints damaged or diseased due due to fracture, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and avascular necrosis.
On April 8, 2008, the plaintiff underwent a surgical procedure on the right hip where the Pinnacle Device was implanted. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff now has suffered debilitating pain and the need for multiple revision surgeries to replace the Pinnacle Device implant.
The plaintiff alleged that all of the injuries and complications that she suffered were caused by “the defective design, warnings, construction and unreasonably dangerous character of the Pinnacle Device that was implanted” on him. She asserted that he would not have consented to the Pinnacle Device being used in the surgical procedure had DePuy disclosed the known defects, the early failure rate and the known complications and risks associated with the use of the device.
The complaint also revealed that there are allegedly over 1,300 adverse reports that have been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the failures or complications of the Pinnacle Device.
The lawsuit contends that DePuy is aware that the Pinnacle Device may result in an unsafe release of toxic metal ions into the hip implant recipients’ tissue and bloodstream cobalt and chromium levels greatly exceeding safety standards.
“Had defendants conducted clinical trials of the Pinnacle Device before it was released in 2000, they would have discovered at the time what they ultimately learned in and around 2007– that the Pinnacle Device results in a high percentage of patients developing metallosis, biologic toxicity, and an early and high failure rate due to the release of metal particles in the patients’ surrounding tissue when the cobalt-chromium metal formal head rotates within the cobalt-chromium metal acetabular liner,” the lawsuit states.
Because of this, the plaintiffs are suing DePuy for negligence, strict product liability and fraudulent concealment. They are seeking for damages in an amount to be proven by trial; compensation for non-economic losses; restitution and restitution and disgorgement of all revenue that defendants have obtained through the manufacture, marketing, sale and administration of the Pinnacle Device; attorneys’ fees and costs; pre and post-judgment interest; and any other relief that the court may deem just and proper.
The Pinnacle Hip Implant Lawsuit is Jeff Knotts and Shelia Knotts v. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Thomas P. Schmalzried M.D., Case No. 3:13-cv-03910-K, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
Have you developed metallosis or other side effects due to a DePuy Pinnacle hip implant or other metal on metal hip implant? If so, please visit the DePuy, Biomet, Wright Medical Technology & Others, Metal on Metal Hip Implant Class Action Lawsuit Investigation page right away. DePuy Pinnacle hip implant lawsuit attorneys are willing and ready to investigate your metal hip implant side effects, including: degenerative heart disease cardiomyopathy; a higher risk of cancer due to toxic substances leaking from metal-on-metal hip implants; swelling, inflammation and severe discomfort; non-cancerous tumors surrounding the hip implant site which can cause pain; premature failure of the metal hip replacement requiring revision surgery; and metallosis. They do not get paid unless you do.
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