In a recent Stryker hip replacement lawsuit, a Georgia couple says a Stryker hip implant failed after less than a year of implantation.

Plaintiffs Donna and James D. claim that after Donna’s hip replacement surgery, she suffered from extraordinary complications linked to supposed defects in the Stryker artificial hip components she was implanted with.

Donna underwent surgery for replacement of her right hip in March 2011, replacing a previous Howmedica hip implant system that had failed after about four years of use. Her left hip was surgically replaced in July 2012. Both those surgeries involved implantation of a Stryker LFIT V40 femoral head, the couple claims.

Donna later began to have discomfort in her right hip near the site of the implant. Medical examination revealed she was suffering from trunnionosis and high levels of chromium and cobalt in her right side.

Her right hip implant had failed, causing “pain, permanent tissue and muscle damage,” according to this Stryker hip replacement lawsuit. She says she had to undergo another revision surgery in February 2015 to remove the Stryker hip implant.

Donna still has the LFIT V40 implanted in her left hip. She says it is unclear whether she will require future corrective surgeries. However, Donna says she still lives with the possibility of future complications, device failure, and a need for corrective surgery in her left hip.

The couple is raising claims based on theories of negligence, breach of warranty, inadequate and defective warnings, design defect, and manufacturing defect. James, Donna’s husband, is bringing a claim for loss of consortium to seek compensation for the effect of Donna’s injuries on their marital relationship.

Stryker Hip Replacement Lawsuit Faults Implant Design

The product at issue here, Stryker’s LFIT V40 femoral head, is one part of a modular hip implant system. A full implant system includes the femoral head, its stem, and an acetabular cup. The LFIT V40 is intended to be interchangeable with other hip implant components so that the total system can be customized for each patient.

Donna and James lay out a list of alleged design flaws that they claim makes the LFIT V40 femoral head prone to failure. Defects can be found in the taper junction between the femoral head and its stem, related to manufacturing processes that do not guarantee an adequate fit between the two components.

They also allege that some femoral heads are too large for use on the V40 trunnion, increasing the risk of “excessive motion, fretting, mechanically assisted crevice corrosion and ultimately device failure.”

They claim these factors can lead to shedding of metal particles into the patient’s surrounding tissue, as it allegedly did in Donna’s case. This loose metal debris can lead to death of surrounding soft tissue and bone, pain and premature device failure, according to the plaintiffs.

Proper testing could have caught these problems before the device hit the market. But Stryker conducted more than “minimal bench testing,” the plaintiffs claim.

This Stryker Hip Replacement Lawsuit is Case No. 5:17-cv-00081, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.