A North Carolina woman along with a group of other plaintiffs recently filed a DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit against the manufacturers of the DePuy hip replacement device claiming that their hip systems failed and caused the need for revision surgery.

According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Denise P. of North Carolina underwent a total left hip arthroplasty in November 2008. During the surgery, she received a DePuy Pinnacle device that had a metal acetabular cup liner.

Denise claims that following her surgery, she began to experience severe pain and discomfort in her hip around the area of her surgery. The DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit reports that after testing Denise’s blood showed signs of elevated metal ion levels. Seven years later, Denise underwent a revision surgery to remove the problematic hip replacement device.

Another plaintiff in the DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit, Susan B., a resident of Nashville, Tennessee, had surgery to replace her left hip with a DePuy Pinnacle hip system. Her surgery occurred in October 2010. Like Denise’s implant, Susan’s hip device also had the metal acetabular liner. After receiving the hip replacement, Susan tested positive for increased levels of metal ions in her blood as well as metallosis and tissue damage. Like Denise, Susan suffered from severe pain and discomfort in the area of her hip replacement.

According to the DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit, in 2015 Susan had surgery to rectify the problem. Unfortunately, just 18 months later in February 2017, Susan suffered an extremely painful dislocation in that same hip. Later that month, Susan had a second revision surgery, her third surgery total on that same hip. Then three months later, Susan suffered another dislocation in her left hip.

Two additional plaintiffs alleged similar experiences in the Depuy lawsuit. Billie M. of Arizona received a total right hip arthroplasty in 2009 and then was forced to undergo a revision surgery in 2016 to replace a failed DePuy Pinnacle hip device.  Paul M. of Illinois alleges a similar story. He was implanted with a DePuy Pinnacle device in his right hip, also with a metal liner. After the surgery, he experienced pain and discomfort in his hip as well as tissue damage and metallosis around the area of the implant.  Paul also suffered a dislocation and then a subsequent revision surgery.

Revision surgeries are often more complex than the original hip replacement surgeries due to the fact that there is a reduced amount of bone in which to put the new implants. According to the DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit, these surgeries are often longer and have a higher rate of complications.

The causes of action asserted in the multi-plaintiff DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit include negligence, failure to warn, defective design, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment and unfair and deceptive trade practices.

This DePuy Pinnacle Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-02860-K in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.