A federal jury in Georgia recently handed an $11 million verdict to Wright Medical in the first bellwether trial the company faced over its Conserve metal-on-metal hip implant.

The Atlanta jury awarded plaintiff Robyn C. $1 million in compensatory damages and another $10 million in punitive damages, finding that the Conserve metal hip replacement was defective and that Wright failed to adequately warn patients about its risks.

Robyn, a former ski instructor from Utah, filed the hip replacement lawsuit against Wright back in 2013, claiming that her Conserve metal hip replacement came loose and caused tissue damage.

Robyn received the hip implant in 2006 after talking to her doctor and considering information provided by Wright, which said that the company’s metal-on-metal device was better than implants made with a polyethylene lining and that it would last longer.

Six years later, Robyn started having severe pain in her right hip. When she had corrective surgery, the doctor found that surrounding soft tissue was damaged by metal debris from the hip implant, prompting her to sue Wright over the alleged defective metal hip replacement implant.

The Atlanta jury found after a two-week trial and three days of deliberations that the plaintiff had a defective hip implant and that Wright misrepresented the device’s safety. The $11 million verdict marks an early loss for Wright in federal multidistrict litigation over its metal hip replacement devices.

The Amsterdam-based device maker still faces hundreds of hip replacement lawsuits filed before U.S. District Judge William Duffey in the Northern District of Georgia.

Metal Hip Replacement Patients Report High Failure Rates

The Wright Conserve hip implant has demonstrated higher than normal failure rates. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received reports of more than 200 adverse events relating to the hip implant device.

The failures have reportedly led to severe pain in the hip and groin, loosening, and high metal toxicity in the blood because of the metal-on-metal design.

The Conserve hip implant complications alleged in the Wright hip replacement lawsuits are similar to those included in claims filed over the DePuy ASR Metal Hip Implant, as well as the Stryker Rejuvenate hip stems.

Over the past few years, thousands of plaintiffs have filed hip replacement lawsuits over these metal-on-metal hip implant devices. Many of the devices are no longer available on the U.S. market.

Because of its metal-on-metal design, the Wright Conserve hip replacement can cause a number of problems. The FDA warns that metal-on-metal hip devices like the Conserve hip replacement system can cause the following adverse effects:

• Pain in the groin, hip or leg
• Limp or decrease in ability to walk
• Swelling in or near the hip joint
• Metallosis, a condition caused by an excessive amount of metal particles in the blood

Wright Conserve Hip Lawsuits

According to court documents, the Conserve hip implant is expected to last approximately 20 years but instead fails about six years after hip replacement surgery.

Robyn’s claim is one of almost 550 product liability lawsuits filed over the Conserve implant that have been consolidated before Judge William Duffey of the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, all citing similar allegations of pain, device failure, and metallosis after the metal-on-metal hip implants in the Conserve line caused metallic particles to chip into the bloodstream.

In addition, the problems often result in more difficult hip revision surgery to replace the implant, causing additional pain and suffering, a prolonged recovery time and an increased risk of hip implant complications, according to the complaints.

While the outcome of this first bellwether trial will not be binding on other Wright Conserve hip lawsuits, it may serve as an indicator as to how juries may rule on future cases.

The Wright Conserve Hip Replacement Lawsuit is In re: Wright Medical Technology Inc., Conserve Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:12-md-02329, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.