DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuits top 900
February 13th, 2012 Joshua
There have been more than 900 lawsuits included as part of Multidistrict Litigation against DePuy Orthopaedics over its faulty Pinnacle hip implant.
According to an update on the status of MDL No. 2244, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against DePuy Orthopaedics, more than 900 lawsuits have been filed by people who claim they have either suffered serious injuries, general complications like persistent pain or those who feel they were misled regarding the dangers of the devices.
MDL is often sought when numerous lawsuits all make similar allegations. In this instance, the multitude of lawsuits claim DePuy Orthopaedics hid studies which showed its Pinnacle hip implant was more likely to cause complications and break altogether than other hip implants. Some Pinnacle models use metal-on-metal design, a burgeoning technology which has come under recent regulatory fire.
Metal-0n-metal implants like some Pinnacle models and the ASR Acetabular System implants have proven to cause a toxic build-up of dangerous metals which could result in future complications, even after the device has been removed. People who’ve experienced problems with the Pinnacle implant have been subjected to persistent pain and inflammation. Defective devices prone to total failure have led recipients back to the surgeon’s table for revision surgeries, costing thousands of dollars in unnecessary and unexpected medical costs.
The number of Pinnacle lawsuits has risen sharply since previous suits were consolidated in MDL in May 2011. The company already faces thousands of lawsuits making similar claims against the DePuy ASR hip implant.
