A new patient joins a Stryker V40 recall multidistrict litigation, claiming that defects in the hip implant’s design caused her injury.

Plaintiff Betty B. claims that she had a hip replacement surgery on her right hip on July 8, 2009, and was implanted with the LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head, made by Stryker. She claims that the femoral head with paired with the Accolade TMZF femoral stem. She claims that she was then fitted with another LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral head and the Acolade TMZF in her left hip, on May 19, 2010.

Betty claims that a defect in the device’s design caused her physical injury, requiring her to have revision surgeries to remove and replace both Stryker V40 femoral heads. She states that she had to have the right Stryker V40 femoral head removed in a revision surgery on July 15, 2015, and the left Stryker V40 femoral head removed on Sept. 26, 2016.

According to Betty, and other patients who have field complaints in the Stryker V40 recall multidistrict litigation, the Stryker hip system causes patient injury because it is composed of two metal components that rub against one another improperly during normal use, causing metal particles to fret off into a patient’s body, which itself causes metal levels in a patient’s body to rise to unhealthy levels.

Additionally, in severe cases, the two metal components can allegedly wear together so badly that the devices lose a significant amount of metal, resulting in the femoral head falling off the femoral stem. This occurrence is called “catastrophic dissociation.” Allegedly, the Stryker V40 tapers are “the only commercially available stem/head combinations to have suffered these catastrophic failures.”

Allegedly, if the two components are not placed exactly at the right angle with one another during implantation surgery, more metal may be shed into the patient’s body. The Stryker V40 recall multidistrict litigation claims that most hip replacement devices are made with metal and a different material that does not wear incompatibly with another metal device, such as plastic or porcelain.

Plaintiffs in the multidistrict litigation nots that the Stryker V40 femoral head is made to work with a number of femoral stem models, but the same problem has been reported with all of them.

Allegedly, these problems can cause a range of severe reactions, including severe pain, loss of mobility, inflammation, increased metal levels in blood, and bone and tissue death. Many patients also have to go through revision surgery to have the Stryker V40 femoral heads replaced with another device, incurring serious risk as a result of the surgery.

Plaintiffs claim that the device was insufficiently tested before being released into the market, because it was put through a “fast track” approval process by the Food and Drug Administration, meaning it was subjected to fewer trials than other devices. Additionally, in 2016, the device was recalled because of the dangers that it poses to patients.

According to Betty and other patients, Howmedica Osteonics Corporation knew or should have known that the device was defective and continued to market and sell it nonetheless. Allegedly, most hip replacement devices are not made with two metal components precisely because they are incompatible. As Howmedica are longstanding professionals in the industry, they should allegedly be aware of this fact, plaintiffs claim.

The Stryker V40 Recall Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-cv-11341-IT, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. The Stryker V40 Recall Multidistrict Litigation is Case No. 1:17-md-02768-IT, in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts.