North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer Blog

Articles Tagged with Artificial Hip

Stryker LFIT V40 Artificial Hip Lawsuits Get Multidistrict Litigation Site

Published on: April 13, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

We’ve previously blogged about Stryker LFIT V40 artificial hip problems, discussing a recall made back in August 2016 and how to tell if you have an artificial hip that’s part of that recall. Since those posts a lot has been going on in courthouses across the country, with dozens of lawsuits popping up from individuals who received affected artificial hips made by Striker Orthopaedics and its subsidiary, Howmedica Osteonics Corporation (HOC).

Just recently, approximately 33 pending lawsuits against HOC were consolidated into a multi-district litigation (MDL). In a way, you can think of this consolidation as a “things just got real” moment for HOC. But what’s the big deal about the Stryker LFIT V40 litigation now being in MDL status? Let’s begin by discussing the underlying lawsuits.

Why Are the Plaintiffs Suing?

Smith & Nephew Artificial Hip Problems: What’s Going On?

Published on: March 7, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

I recently blogged about artificial hip failures. Fortunately, these hip failures are not common when you look at the total number of patients receiving hip implants every year. However, when there is a failure, it can be extremely unpleasant, to put it lightly.

And it’s not just one medical device manufacturer with implants that are causing problems. Stryker, DePuy, Zimmer, and Wright are just some of the companies who have had issues with their artificial hip implants. If you’re curious, you can read more about some of them in my other blog post.

One such company that’s been in the news lately is Smith & Nephew. Over the course of the past few years, Smith & Nephew has instituted a string of recalls and is now at the beginning of a potentially expensive legal fight, with even more lawsuits expected. So what exactly is going on with Smith & Nephew’s artificial hip implants?

How Do I Know If I Have the Recalled Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Implanted?

Published on: January 26, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

I imagine it can seem overwhelming. Let’s say you had artificial hip surgery in 2011. By 2016 you begin to feel some unusual, new pain. So you Google artificial hip implants and you discover an ocean of words on the many failed artificial hip components that have been sold and implanted (and then failed) over the past decade. Then you run across an article on an urgent recall of the Stryker LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head (let’s call it the V40 Head). You have a vague recollection that you were implanted with a Stryker artificial hip back in 2011, but you certainly don’t know if the V40 Head was implanted. So the question for a person like you would be: How do I know if I have the Stryker LFIT Head implanted in my body?

It’s a great question. In fact, you should not be expected to know what precise artificial hip components have been implanted in your body. I had cataract surgery last year, and I don’t have any idea what exact artificial lenses were implanted in my eyes. I hope I don’t ever have to figure out what product they actually are. But back to you. Here is a simple procedure you should follow if you need to find out if a medical device like the V40 Head is currently implanted in your body:

Depuy Pinnacle Hip Trial: Judge Slashes Jury Award by $500 Million

Published on: January 5, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

Imagine going to sleep the night after making the decision to strip five hundred million dollars from six families. I imagine it would be unsettling. On Tuesday, Judge Ed Kinkeade, a federal judge in Texas overseeing the Depuy Pinnacle MDL, made the decision to cut $500,000,000.00 from a jury award presented to six families after a grueling ten-week trial last fall. You can read about the trial and the jury’s verdict here. In that post I wrote that the jury’s verdict was “staggering,” and it was. It may be more staggering that a judge, less than a month later, would wipe out half a billion dollars of the jury’s award.

“Single-Digit Multipliers”

On January 3, 2017, Judge Kinkeade issued his post-trial court order reducing the amount of punitive damages awarded to the six families, writing that “constitutional considerations limit the amount a plaintiff may recover in punitive damages.” The relevant portion of the Order states:

Product Liability Law: Litigation, Settlement, and Wellness

Published on: December 12, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

I will publish a new book this week: Product Liability Law: Litigation, Settlement, and Wellness.

The book offers concise chapters on issues you need to be aware of when you first discover that a medical device may have failed in your body, or when a prescription medication is beginning to cause dreadful side effects. Beyond that, I discuss issues that arise when you are involved in product liability litigation, as well as concerns about money: before a product liability lawsuit is filed, during product litigation, and after a product lawsuit is resolved.

If you would like a free copy of Product Liability Law, I ask that you subscribe to the website. It takes twenty seconds to sign up. You will receive a copy of Product Liability Law, and you will receive emails only when I post new articles to the site. Two emails a week, tops.

Depuy Pinnacle Hip Trial: Jury Awards ONE BILLION DOLLARS

Published on: December 2, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

Staggering. It’s really the only word for it. Yesterday a Texas jury awarded six plaintiffs over one billion dollars for injuries sustained following the failure of the Depuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal artificial hip. And that comes out to more than $170,000,000.00 per plaintiff. The verdict was handed down last night following ten weeks of punishing trial.

This trial was the third “bellwether” case in the Depuy Pinnacle MDL (multidistrict litigation). The first Pinnacle bellwether trial ended in a defense verdict, which means the jury did not find negligence on the part of the defendants, Depuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson, and therefore the plaintiffs received no compensation. The second bellwether trial resulted in a huge $502 million dollar verdict for five plaintiffs, which I wrote about here. In fact, much of the speculation about this third bellwether trial was whether the plaintiffs’ team could put on the same powerful case that they did in the second bellwether trial, or whether the $500 million verdict in March was simply a bizarre outlier, one of those remarkable unicorn verdicts that come along once and never again.

Today, the $500 million dollar verdict seems modest compared to yesterday’s jury verdict. Plainly, juries are sending a huge message to Depuy and J&J that they hurt many people when they marketed and sold the Depuy Pinnacle Hip.

Wright Medical Artificial Hip Settlement: Wrong for Plaintiffs?

Published on: November 22, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

Do you long for the days when you could move your legs and hips with complete freedom of motion in total silence, without pain? If the answer is “yes,” there’s a good chance you are the recipient of a hip replacement implant – and you wouldn’t be alone. Over the past few decades, millions of individuals have received hip replacement surgeries, many of which have been successful. But in recent years, there have been a large number of hip replacement recipients who have suffered problems with their hip implants, especially those receiving metal-on-metal hip replacements.

Lawsuits have been filed, resulting in large, eye-catching verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs. One recent settlement applies to approximately 1,300 lawsuits involving hip implant products made by Wright Medical Technology (“Wright”).

Wright Hip Background

Stryker LFIT V40 Artificial Hip Recall: What You Need to Know

Published on: October 31, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

Total hip replacements are becoming more popular. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of individuals aged 45 years and older receiving total hip replacements more than doubled, rising from 138,700 to 310,800. One of the reasons for the increase is a result of medical and technological advancements in hip replacement surgery and artificial hip components.

Unfortunately, not all artificial hips have performed as intended, resulting in serious complications for many patients. I have written often about failed artificial hips on this site. One such example has occurred with the Stryker Orthopaedics’ (Stryker) LFIT V40 femoral head. On August 29, 2016, Stryker issued a voluntary recall for this particular hip replacement product. If you or someone you know may have received this hip replacement product, there are certain things you need to know.

What’s Being Recalled?

This isn’t the first time Stryker has had a problem with its hip replacement products. Back in 2012, Stryker recalled its Rejuvenate and ABG II modular-neck hip stems. However, the current recall concerns the LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 Femoral Head (V40 femoral head).

The recall focuses not on the entire hip replacement prosthesis, but rather just the femoral head; the femoral head is the “ball” part of the hip replacement. This femoral head fits inside the “cup” (which is located in the pelvis) and is also attached to the “stem” (which is connected to the femur, or thigh bone). Neither the cup nor the stem are currently a part of this recall.

Depuy Pinnacle Hip: Third Bellwether Trial Underway in Texas

Published on: October 7, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

The latest Depuy Pinnacle Hip bellwether trial is underway in Dallas, Texas. All bellwether trials are important, but this one is more important than most. After all, this trial follows an astonishing result in the second bellwether trial, where a jury awarded five plaintiffs more than $500,000,000.00 in damages for injuries caused by the Depuy Pinnacle hip. More about that case in a moment. But this third bellwether trial is critically important to Depuy and Johnson & Johnson (the Depuy Pinnacle manufacturers) who desperately need a court victory after the second bellwether trial. Another large verdict for the plaintiffs will most likely change the fate of any global settlement with the eight thousand plaintiffs who still have cases against Depuy and Johnson & Johnson.

Third Depuy Pinnacle Bellwether Trial

Judge Kinkeade, the federal judge in Texas overseeing the Depuy Pinnacle multidistrict litigation, selected seven individual cases to be consolidated in the current bellwether trial. The plaintiffs are Marvin Andrews, Kathleen Davis, Sandra Llamas, Rosa Metzler, Judith Rodriguez, Lisa Standerfer, and Michael Weiser. All the plaintiffs are from California. Their cases were transferred to the Depuy Pinnacle MDL in Dallas, Texas.

Metallosis: Serious Condition Caused By Metal-on-Metal Artificial Hips

Published on: August 11, 2016 | By Clay Hodges

Over the years I have worked with many people who had hip replacement surgery. Many of these clients discovered high metal levels in their bodies from metal-on-metal (MoM) hip components. Often the person would let me know that she had her metal levels checked and that the blood work came back with abnormally high readings of cobalt, chromium, or other metals. Still, the treating physician would occasionally dismiss the blood work results. At least one doctor told a patient, “no one knows the effects of higher metal levels on the body. We haven’t studied the impact of metallosis sufficiently. It is nothing to be worried about at this point.”

Sadly, this isn’t true. And it’s not the best medical advice. There have been several studies over the years that looked at metallosis in the body derived from metal-on-metal hip components. The first incident of metallosis from MoM hip implants was reported in 1971. Since then, doctors have been reporting the higher incidence of metallosis in patients who received MoM artificial hip implants. Several scholarly studies have been conducted, including a recent one whose results were published this month examining the impact of metallosis on the cells of patients.

What Is Metallosis?

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★★★★★

I was involved in a case for the faulty hip replacements. Clay Hodges represented me. I can't say enough about how much he has helped me. Clay was able to win multiple settlements on my behalf with most of them being the maximum amount able to be awarded. Matt J.

Clay, thank you sir for making a disheartening experience at least palatable, you and your staff were honest, caring and understanding through the entire process of my wife’s hip replacements, while monetary settlements never make the pain and suffering end, it sometimes is the only way people can fight back to right a wrong. J. V.

We are absolutely pleased with how Clay Hodges handled my husband’s hip replacement claim. He always kept us informed of the progress. And, his work resulted in a settlement which we are extremely pleased. Thank you, Clay! Carol L. & Norm L.