Stryker’s Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants Continue To Cause Complications

Stryker Corporation released its Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular-Neck Hip Stem in 2009, but recalled the device three years later in July 2012. Stryker’s metal-on-metal hip implant began to show evidence of corrosion after devices were implanted. Medical researchers have also voiced concern over the years about the safety of metal-on-metal hip devices due to metal components rubbing against each other. Contact of metal ions can include:

• metal toxicity
• necrosis (premature tissue death)
• possibility for revision surgery

The same year of the hip implant recall, CBS News disclosed approximately 17,000 reports of implant problems to the FDA. The first Stryker lawsuit was filed a month following the voluntary recall. By mid-summer 2013, a consolidated proceeding was ordered with the formation of a Multi District Litigation (MDL) proceeding in Federal Court that was transferred to U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank in MDL No. 13-2441.

Following the formation, Richard Schlueter of Childers Schlueter and Smith was appointed in a leadership role to the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee (PSC) by Judge Frank. He has also served in this role on the Stryker PSC on the Experts/Science Committee and Written Discovery Committee. By mid 2014, over 2000 cases were pending in the consolidated MDL and state courts with hundreds more cases being filed monthly.

In late December 2013, it was reported that the first of Stryker defective hip implant lawsuits had been settled for an undisclosed amount. The four patients who claimed to have received a defective hip implant first sued in 2012 based on the promise that the hip implant would last for decades, but ended up failing after only two years causing pain and expensive surgeries to fix complications.

To date, thousands of new Stryker hip implants continue to be filed all over the Country.

If you or a loved one received a Stryker hip implant and have experienced complications or had to undergo revision surgery as a result, contact our Stryker hip implant lawyers today for a free case evaluation and learn about your legal options. There is no obligation. Our attorneys will work closely with you to seek justice and fight for compensation for your injuries.