Jury Found For Johnson & Johnson DePuy
The Dallas federal jury ruled unanimously against the plaintiff Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli, who said the two metal-on-metal Pinnacle hips she received in 2009 were defective and that the company failed to warn patients and doctors about the device’s risks.
DePuy had said the implants were improperly positioned, and not to blame for her injuries. Jurors deliberated for two days, after a eight-week trial. The jury found that the ULTAMET artificial hips sold by J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit as part of its Pinnacle line of implants had no design defects and the company properly warned patients and doctors about the devices’ risks.
There are more than 6,000 lawsuit cases over the allegedly defective Pinnacle hip implants that have been consolidated in the Dallas, Northern District of Texas federal court.
Metal on Metal Hip Manufacturers On the Hit Parade
J&J set aside $2.5 billion last year to settle claims that 8,000 of its DePuy ASR hips were defective. The pharmaceutical and medical device giant company is now exposed to similar allegations that its Pinnacle line of hip implants also were failing prematurely and causing metallosis or metal poisoning.
J&J, the world’s largest health-care company, issued a worldwide recall of 93,000 ASR hip implants in August 2010, saying 12 percent failed within five years. But, according to internal J&J documents unearthed during litigation, 37 percent of ASR hips failed after 4.6 years. In 2012, the failure rate in Australia was 44 percent within seven years.
J&J stopped selling the metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hip in August 2013 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required device makers to submit new versions of the artificial hips for pre-market approval.
J&J bragged that the Pinnacle metal-on-metal implants, which were approved for sale in the U.S. in 2000, as a design that would last 20 years and offer greater range of motion.
All metal on metal (MoM) hip manufacturers are exposed to similar allegation of premature hip failure and metallosis. In February of this year, Biomet agreed to settle over 1,000 lawsuits over its MoM M2A Magnum implants. Zimmer has also faced litigation over its Durom MoM device, as has Stryker’s Trident, Rejuvenate and ABG II MoM devices. Smith & Nephew, which started the MoM craze with its Birmingham line of MoM devices is also under the gun as well as Wright’s line of Conserve MoM hip implants.
There are currently more than 4,000 product liability personal injury lawsuits pending nationwide involving the recalled Stryker Rejuvenate or ABG II implants, which were removed from the market in 2012, amid reports that the modular femoral components may be prone to fret, corrode and ultimately fail within a few years.
Metallosis Caused by MoM Implants
In many cases, chromium and cobalt debris from the metal-on-metal grinding between the cup and the ball components of the MoM hips caused local muscle, bone, tissue death and increased Cobalt and Chromium blood levels.
According to medical experts the long term side effects of heavy metal poisoning is unclear, with some stating that it can cause bladder and kidney cancer many years down the road.
The case is Herlihy-Paoli v. DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., 11-cv-3590, U.S. District Court; Northern District of Texas (Dallas).
8 Comments
Ronald. D. Scott.
I I hope they make depuy pay everybody they hurt with this product or device they made.
kenny
I hope deputy has to pay me for all my pain and bullshit I've been though in the last 4yrs. I was implanted with a pinnacle in 2010 and it was great for the first 3 to 4 months, then it started going done hill from there. I didn't know nothing about this hip, or the problems with it. I complained to the Dr over and over and over. He did this test, that test and some more test till I told him no more test. Well I finally got the revision done three weeks ago. So I'll see how it goes but I'm not happy about it. Unable to work at 50 yrs old isn't cool. An had to get soscle severity to nearly get by. Thanks deputy and j n j.
christopher whitley
2009 got hip replacement and continued with pain. Check into it and it was the pinnacle had to get a revision surgery in 2013. Unable to work at age 43. I really appreciate it Depuy and Johnson and Johnson
Kathy Castle
I had the implant in Dec. 2007. I couldn't walk for a year. Keept telling doctor something was wrong. Revision done Oct. 2008. Still severe pain everyday. 7 years of trying to survive. I was a letter carrier for 27 years. This ended my career. I wish I would finally get compensated for what I've had to go through.
CSchmidt
I had a Pinnacle implant in 2006 & was told it would last 10-15 yrs. I was diagnosed with cobalt poisoning in 2011 and needed 2 revision surgeries. I required a pic-line of vancomyacin antibiotics for both surgeries and still suffer hip pain. I have lost considerable muscle mass and bone density. Good luck to anyone that suffers from the Pinnacle implant.
Gerald Tubbs
I have been waiting for this since 2009, when my struggles with the Pinnacle began. Nothing they told me was true and it was all BS and they still didn't want to hear it even after 20 or so dislocations.
TIM TAFFE
HOW COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE INNOCENT..I AM ON TWO CRUTCHES AFTER THREE PINACLE REPLACEMENT SURGERIES A HEART ATTACK AND SEVERE MEMORY LOSS... BASTARDS PURE BASTARDS.
Bruce Redmann
I also have had my metal on metal replacement replaced due to a major infection caused by a reaction to the two metals. It was actually eating up my thigh bones. First surgery was 9 years ago and revision was 2 years ago. Hopefully this one will last. I thought I read that J and J admitted that they knew there was a problem with the pinicle device. Apparently the jury was "out" when that statement was made.
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