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As Stryker Orthopedics and its parent company Howmedica Osteonics, enter another round of product liability litigation over their allegedly defective metal hip implants, an application has been filed to consolidate the lawsuits for centralization in a multidistrict litigation or MDL.

Six filed Stryker LFIT Lawsuits

To date, there are six product liability and personal injury lawsuits filed nationwide over premature failure of the Stryker LFit v40 femoral head.

This Stryker metal femoral head component was removed from the market last year because of an increased risk of premature failure, metal corrosion and cobalt, chromium metal blood poisoning, known as metallosis.

What is the problem with metal hips?

Metal on metal hip implants have been around for the past two decades but they have been plagued with early failure, metal poisoning, tissue destruction and finally the need for painful replacement surgery.

Metal on metal hip implants have a high failure rate including those manufactured by Biomet, DePuy, Encore, Smith & Nephew, Stryker, Wright and Zimmer.

Stryker Orthopedics under fire again

This is not the first recall ride at the rodeo for Stryker, they announced a world wide recall over their metal on metal ABG II and Rejuvenate metal hip models in 2012.

Those popular hip implants were also subject to early failure, metal poisoning, tissue destruction and finally the need for painful replacement surgery.

What is the LFit V40?

Stryker Orthopedics makes the LFit Anatomic CoCr (cobalt and chromium) V40 femoral head. It is an interchangeable “ball” component for total hip replacements that can be attached to a variety of hip stems, including the Accolade TMZF, Accolade 2, Meridian, and Citation.

Stryker Metal Hip Failure LFIT V40 Femoral Head Recall

Stryker issued an “Urgent Medical Device Recall Notification” to surgeons in August 2016, warning that certain LFIT femoral heads had been associated with “higher than expected number of complaints involving taper lock failure of the recalled femoral heads.”

On September 27, 2016, Australian health officials issued a Hazard Alert for seven sizes of the LFit V40. The problem was identified in four products, while three similar products were included as a precaution.

The LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40 femoral heads implants were sold from 2002 – 2011.

Signs and Symptoms of LFIT Taper Lock Failure:

  • Loss of mobility
  • Pain
  • Inflammation
  • Spontaneous Hip Dislocation
  • Bone fractures around the components
  • Leg length discrepancy
  • Need for revision surgery

Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Failure could involve thousands of claims

According to experts, the litigation could include thousands of similar injury claims, it is estimated that more than 100,000 LFIT V40 components may have been implanted in patients.

Alaska Stryker LFIT V40 Lawsuit

In the latest lawsuit, Patton Witt, from Alaska filed a defective product liability claim against Howmedica Osteonics and Stryker.

According to Witt, he was implanted with an LFIT V40 and an Accolade TMZF femoral stem in March 2008. The implant developed “extensive corrosion” and the taper-lock wore out, which required revision surgery. He suffered from elevated levels of cobalt in his bloodstream (metallosis) and a large pseudo-tumor or soft-tissue mass in his hip.

Stryker “No warning letters to patients impacted by the recall”

According to the Stryker hip lawsuits, the company did not ask for the affected femoral heads to be returned and did not tell doctors to notify their affected patients of the potential defect in the implanted hip. There is no recall information on the company’s website regarding the Lfit femoral head that I could find.

The complaints further claim that Stryker knew for years that the LFIT V40 femoral heads were defective and dangerous, but chose to ignore the risk of using the components.

If you think you may have a Stryker V40 Head or a Stryker Accolade TMZF stem and are experiencing pain potentially caused by metal corrosion or have suffered a spontaneous dissociation necessitating full revision and emergency care, please call us.

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