A man is filing a hip implant lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. alleging the company produced a faulty total hip replacement with a medical device that has a defective “metal-on-metal liner.”

The medical device used in the hip implant is the Pinnacle MoM device, or Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System.

According to the company’s website, the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System was introduced in 2000, and is being marketed as “one of the most widely used and clinically successful modular acetabular cup systems for hip replacement.”

DePuy Orthopaedics designs and manufactures products for diseased joints and for reconstructing traumatic skeletal injuries.

The company was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 1998. It develops and markets products under brands such as: Codman, DePuy Mitek, DePuy Orthopaedics, and DePuy Spine.

Plaintiff George T., a North Carolina resident, underwent total hip arthroplasty in his right hip in September 2007, and had implanted the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System.

However, because of the implantation of the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System, George alleges he suffered problems of corrosion and friction. He claims the implantation also resulted in toxic amounts of cobalt-chromium metal debris being released into his surrounding tissue.

The hip implant lawsuit explains that the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System, was “designed, developed, marketed, and sold for human hip joints damaged or diseased due to, inter alia, fracture, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and avascular necrosis,” it states.

Moreover, the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System was also sold to relieve patients from pain and to increase their hip range of motion.

The DePuy lawsuit also alleges the defendants had represented their device to have “significant advantages” over other comparable hip replacement systems or hip devices. DePuy allegedly advertised the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System as having a surgical option that “recreates the natural ball-and-socket joint of your hip, increasing stability and range of motion,” the hip implant lawsuit states.

According to George, the defendants abused the good reputation that DePuy’s parent company Johnson & Johnson has among doctors and patients.

George further contends that “when problems became apparent with DePuy’s ASR hip implant, another metal-on-metal design, DePuy relied on its status as ‘a Johnson & Johnson Company’ to restore confidence among surgeons, and to encourage them to use the Pinnacle MoM device in place of the ASR hip after it was recalled.”

These actions were allegedly taken with the knowledge and approval of the parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

However, despite the reliance on the branded name of Johnson & Johnson, and despite the marketing of the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System device as being safe and superior, George claims that the defendants were aware of the adverse effects and risks associated with the implantation of the medical device.

They accuse the defendant of being aware that the medical device could cause and may result in, “metallosis or the metal wear and tear debris being flushed into the bloodstream, tissue death, bone erosion, and the development of pseudotumors.”

They allege that the defendants knew that the implantation would cause severe inflammation, bone loss, and severe pain.

DePuy is currently answering to more than 11,000 hip implant lawsuits related to its recall of its hip replacements. Lawyers and the industry estimate that to resolve these cases, it will take more than billions of dollars in costs for the parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

The Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System Lawsuit is Case No. 3:17-cv-01180-K, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.