An Ohio woman claims that a Stryker defective hip implant caused complications which required her to have revision surgery.

Plaintiff Hazel M. says she was implanted with an LFIT V40 femoral head in her right hip in September 2012 during her hip replacement surgery. Similarly, she was implanted with the same femoral head in her left hip in December 2010.

Hazel claims that these implants caused her to suffer from complications including high levels of cobalt and chromium in her blood. She reportedly plans to schedule revision surgery to have the allegedly defective implants removed.

According to the Stryker website, the brand offers “market-leading hip replacement implants for total hip arthroplasty including our primary and revision portfolios designed to offer you a wide variety of implants, instrumentation and muscle-sparing surgical approach options”. However, Hazel argues that the company’s LFIT V40 femoral head (a crucial component for total hip replacement) is defective.

The components in question reportedly lock with a femoral stem through a “press fit” or “taper junction”. This union reportedly relies on dissimilar angles to obtain fixation. Hazel claims that this union design is defective and, in combination with poor material choices, leads to micromotion between the two components.

The fretting of the two pieces reportedly releases metal wear debris into the surrounding joint which can cause a wide array of issues. The body allegedly reacts to the metal debris as a foreign body, leading to “pain, disability, destruction of tissue, the development of fluid collections and pseudotumor and the necessity of revision surgery (removal and replacement).”

Additionally, Hazel claims that the Stryker LFIT V40 femoral heads are the only implants commercially available which have experienced catastrophic dissociation. In this phenomenon, the micro fretting creates a massive metal loss that eventually results in the femoral head falling completely off of the femoral stem.

In 2016, over 40,000 femoral heads were recalled by Stryker Howmedica due to defects reportedly associated with the component. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recall notice, “Stryker received several complaints describing the incidence of harm secondary to taper lock failure for specific lots of numerous catalog numbers of LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Heads.”

The lawsuit claims that Howmedica knew or should have known that their design was defective and could cause serious harm to their consumers. According to Hazel’s claims, revision surgery is sometimes necessary to resolve issues. This process can be difficult on the patient because damage to the surrounding joint can make the surgery more complex and recovery more delicate. These risks were reportedly unwarned by the implant manufacturer.

Hazel accuses the implant manufacturer of negligence, defective design, manufacturing defect, failure to warn, breach of warranties, violation of consumer protection laws, and negligent misrepresentation. Her Stryker defective hip lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, statutory damages, restitution, disgorgement, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The Stryker Defective Hip Lawsuit is Case No. 1:19-cv-10133 and is part of the LFIT V40 Femoral Head MDL, In re: Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Products Liability Litigation, Case No. 1:17-md-02768-IT, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.