Zimmer Durom Hip Lawsuits Settling

The latest batch of Zimmer Durom Acetabular Component (Durom Cup) Hip lawsuits are beginning to settle. Settlement negotiations have been in process over the past few months and the manufacturer has agreed to resolve the litigation which has been around for the past 8 years.

What is the Zimmer Durom Cup Hip?

The Zimmer Durom Cup is an artificial metal on metal hip implant system that was sold in the United States in 2006. The Zimmer Durom Cup promised a novel mechanical design that reduced instability, increased range of motion and prolonged normal wear and tear of the hip joint.

The Zimmer Durom Acetabular Component was used with Zimmer’s Metasul Metal-on-Metal Tribological Solution Large Diameter Heads (LDH). The hip replacement cup is a monoblock of cobalt chromium alloy. The Zimmer Durom Acetabular cup was to be used without cement and has a porous coating to encourage bone growth and fuse it to the hip socket, holding it into place.

Unfortunately, the design did not live up to its advertized benefits, and patients and doctors became concerned about the high number of hip replacement failures, where the critical components loosened and prematurely failed, leading to painful revision surgery.

Zimmer Durom Cup Trials

In 2015, in the first trial a Los Angeles jury awarded $9.2 million to Gary Kline, who experienced prematurely failure injuries with the Zimmer Durom Cup hip replacement system.

The Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Kline $6.4 million for future non-economic damages, $2.6 million for past non-economic damages and $153,000 for medical costs. The jury found that Zimmer was liable in failing to warn and the negligent design of a defective product.

According to Kline, in 2006 Zimmer Holdings, Inc. intentionally misled American surgeons into believing that the U.S. version of the Durom Cup had a successful and safe track record in Europe.

Zimmer Altered Durom Cup’s Coating

For the U.S. market, Zimmer changed the Durom Cup’s plasma coating, a critical component of the device. Zimmer did not perform any dafety tests on the altered coating. Instead, Zimmer rushed the Durom Cup product to market to catch up with its competitors, all hid the fact that the American Durom Cup was not the same as its European counterpart.

Kline to had undergo two serious hip replacement surgeries in just 15 months and has left him enduring continous pain. The Durom Cup did not function as designed since no bone ingrowth had occurred.

There are several hundred Zimmer Durom Cup hip lawsuits pending nationwide.

Temporary Zimmer Durom Hip Recall

In July 2008, a temporary Zimmer Durom Cup recall was announced, so that changes could be made to the medical product’s warnings and newer implant instructions for doctors.

What is the problem with the Zimmer Durom Cup?

It is estimated that 12,000 patients had the Zimmer Durom Cup hip system implanted between 2006 and 2008. Zimmer claims a hip implant failure rate of 5.7%, that estimate is dwarved by some experts who estimate hip implant failure rate of 20% to 30% of implanted patients.

Zimmer Durom Cup Litigation

The bulk of the Zimmer Durom Cup litigation is in the federal court system, there over 550 cases as of April 15, consolidated as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, which is centralized in the District of New Jersey.

Avoidable Metal Hip Failures Debacle

Zimmer Durom Cup hip implant devices are not unique in the significant failure rate and the need for re-do surgeries. All metal on metal hip designs suffer from the same structural mechanical defect. The manufacturers in their rush to get their hip implant product quickly to the market did not perform any safety studies on their devices. They were driven by their insatiable thirst for profit and market share that they valued over patient safety, profits over people.

Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Settlements

According to sources, Zimmer has paid over $400 million in settlements to patients injured by the Durom Cup. In addition, Zimmer is expected to pay more than $200 million more to settle pending lawsuits.

Have you been implanted with a Zimmer Durom Cup hip and have experienced pain and suffering? Have you had to undergo serious revision surgery?