A South Carolina couple has filed a strict products liability lawsuit against the makers of the husband’s hip implant, citing Stryker LFIT defects.

Plaintiffs Larry P. and Susan P. have added their Stryker LFIT defects lawsuit to the growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against Howmedica Osteonics Corp., the manufacturers of the Stryker LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head with which he was implanted.

Larry’s right hip surgery was performed on April 19, 2013 in Greenville, S.C. Just a few years later, in 2016, Larry was forced to undergo a risky explantation surgery in Rochester, Minn.

Whereas a typical joint replacement is designed to last upwards of 20 years, Larry’s alleged Stryker LFIT defects resulted in the explantation of the device in about 3 years.

He claims that he has suffered injury to himself as well as economic loss. His wife, Susan, claims that she has suffered loss of services as well as loss of consortium.

Larry’s Stryker LFIT defects lawsuit states that Howmedica, “by their actions or inactions, proximately caused the injuries to Plaintiffs.” The lawsuit also states, “Plaintiffs could not have known that the injuries he/she suffered were as a result of a defect in the device at issue until after the date the device was recalled from the market and the Plaintiff came to learn of the recall.”

Larry also alleges in his Stryker LFIT defects lawsuit that there was no way he could have known he would suffer injuries from elevated levels of metals such as chromium and cobalt that he believes came as a result of his metal-on-metal Stryker hip implant. He says he was not aware of the presence of excessive levels of these metals until after he had blood work done.

Larry is bringing forth allegations of negligence, defective design, manufacturing defect, failure to warn, breach of warranty as to merchantability, breach of implied warranties, loss of consortium and punitive damages.

Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants and Stryker LFIT Defects

Many patients who receive metal-on-metal hip implants like Larry suffer from metal poisoning. Metal from parts of the implant rubbing on one another during motion may shed and leak into the surrounding tissue and blood.

This metal poisons the area around the implant and can lead to tissue death, pseudotumors, pain, inflammation, broken bones, loss of mobility and other problems.

Specifically, the Stryker LFIT femoral heads may have inherent problems. Stryker called for a recall of its LFIT V40 femoral heads because of probable Stryker LFIT defects and has received taper lock failure complaints from more patients than they had expected.

The problems associated with these femoral heads include excessive metal debris, insufficient soft tissue tension, fractured hip stem trunnion, disassociation of the femoral head from the hip stem, noise, loss of bone fixation strength, among others.

The plaintiff couple is asking for a trial by jury and is requesting compensatory damages.

This Stryker LFIT Defects Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-md-02768 in the United States District Court in the District of Massachusetts.