A Utah woman has recently filed a metal hip replacement lawsuit against DePuy and Johnson & Johnson stating that her Pinnacle Hip Replacement System was defective.

Plaintiff Beverly F. received a DePuy Pinnacle Hip Replacement System during a left total hip arthroplasty on August 25, 2005.

In 2014, she began experiencing symptoms of swelling, discomfort, pain, dislocation, loosening, and infection. According to this metal hip replacement lawsuit, Beverly also developed metallosis which was noted in documents in April 2016.

As a result, she was forced to undergo a revision surgery that same month, her lawsuit stated. Revision surgery puts patients at higher risks of complications than those who do not have revision surgery.

Metal Hip Replacement Complications

Many studies have found that a greater risk of dislocation appears in those who have undergone revision surgery.

In fact, one such study conducted out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital found that 14.4% of patients who had revision surgery suffered a dislocation. Only 3.9% of patients who only had an original hip replacement surgery experienced dislocation.

This means that hip revision surgery puts patients at dislocation risk 4 times higher than those who have not had revision surgery.

Additionally, because of the way the Pinnacle Hip System is designed, a condition called metallosis can occur. According to this metal hip replacement lawsuit, the plaintiff developed metallosis before her revision surgery.

Metallosis is a condition that occurs when toxic levels of metal build up in the body and can cause damage to tissue, bone and the nervous system.

Metal-on-metal hip implants, of which the Pinnacle System is one, are designed for a younger, more active demographic.

When DePuy launched the Pinnacle System in the early 2000s, it was promoted as a system that could be custom fit to a patient’s frame and could withstand harsher friction movements, like running.

Metal-on-metal hip implants were thought to be able to outlast and outperform previous plastic or ceramic models of hip implants.

However, it wasn’t long until reports of problems, including metallosis, came in regarding the Pinnacle System and other similar hip implant systems.

When the ball-in-socket joint of the implant interacts, it sheds both chromium and cobalt metal ions into the blood. This can cause a build up of toxic metals in the blood which creates metal poisoning in the blood, or metallosis.

Plaintiff’s Accusations in Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit

Beverly accuses DePuy and Johnson & Johnson of many things in this metal hip replacement lawsuit. She states that DePuy’s Pinnacle Hip was not adequately tested and was not actually approved by the FDA.

Inherent in its design, the Pinnacle allows the full weight of the body to create the metal-on-metal friction which can lead to complications, she states.

She also claims that doctors have acknowledged the dangers of such hip implants and that the Pinnacle system, specifically, has known dangers.

According to the metal hip replacement lawsuit, the plaintiff also claims that as a direct and proximate result of the defective design as well as the defendant’s wrongful conduct, she sustained and continues to suffer economic damages, severe and possibly permanent injuries, pain, suffering and emotional distress.

Beverly asks for past and future medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings, damages for loss of consortium and punitive and exemplary damages.

This Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit is Beverly F. v DePuy Orthopaedics et al and is Case No. 3:16-cv-02313 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas.