Military Hip Implant Lawsuit

Military Hip Implant Lawsuit Alleges Stryker Negligence

Stryker, one of the largest and most popularly used hip implant manufacturers, is facing some potentially major product liability legal problems surrounding one of their metal-on-metal hip replacement system. This isn’t the first time, however, that their metal hip implant systems have been pulled from the market for putting patients at risk. In 2012, they recalled two other hip systems—the Stryker Rejuvenate Hip and the Stryker ABG Hip. They quickly became inundated with lawsuits from former patients claiming that the Stryker hip they had implanted had caused serious complications (metal poisoning, dislocations, catastrophic failure, etc.) leading to injury and typically a revision surgery. Military veterans injured by faulty hip implants may be entitled to compensation.

Stryker may be back in the hot seat. On August 29, 2016, they issued an urgent warning to medical device implant orthopedic surgeons that hip implant patients were experiencing extremely high failure rates of prosthetics containing their LFIT (Low Friction Ion Treatment) V40 femoral head. Stryker explained that “higher than expected complaints of taper lock failure” has been occurring which could lead to a complete dissociation of the femoral head from the hip stem, excessive metal debris in the hip joint and dangerous metal poisoning in hip replacement patients.

Stryker may now face negligence claims for failing to warn physicians and patients many years earlier when recalling their Rejuvenate and ABG hip implants, which included the LFIT V40. when Many patients have already been injured—some experiencing catastrophic hip implant failure.

Stryker hip replacement lawsuit

Background on the LFIT V40 Femoral Head

Artificial hip implant systems consist of several parts that work together to create the “hip system”. These parts generally include a:

• Femoral head
• Femoral stem
• Femoral neck
• Liner
• Acetabular socket

The LFIT V40 is the femoral head component used in many of the Stryker hip implants and can be better understood as the part that replaces the “ball” at topmost part of the femur or upper thigh bone. The ball then fits inside the socket of the pelvis bone which makes hip joint rotation possible.

The Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Heads are used with the following replacement hip implant systems used over the past 17 years:

1. Stryker Citation Hip System (January 2000 and later)
2. Stryker Meridian Hip System (January 2000 and later)
3. Stryker Accolade 1 or Accolade TMZF Hip System (March 2000 and later )
4. Stryker Rejuvenate Hip System (December 2008 and later)
5. Stryker ABG 2 Hip System (November 2009 and later)
6. Stryker Accolade 2 Hip System (March 2012 and later)
   Of course, the LFIT V40 Femoral Head was designed to make the replacement hip implant more advanced than their previous models and competitors’ hips. Stryker claimed, in fact, that this design would minimize the risk of dislocation and maximize hip range of motion and stability. They also explained that the “Low Friction Ion Treatment” technology would significantly reduced friction in the hip joint which would provide a longer lifespan for the prosthetic hip. Unfortunately, actual real life case studies proved the opposite: the LFIT technology was actually becoming part of the problem by increasing the metal on metal wear and tear leading to metallosis, tissue damage, pain, swelling, immobility, and catastrophic hip implant failure.

Contact Schmidt National Law Group today for a free case evaluation by calling 1-800-631-5656 or use the form at the bottom of this article.

Schmidt National Law Group handles cases throughout the entire United States including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Our lawyers and attorneys also focus on handling lawsuits in the following cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose City, Detroit, Jacksonville, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Fort Worth, Baltimore, Charlotte, Boston, Seattle, Washington, Milwaukee, Denver, Louisville, Las Vegas, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Portland, Tucson, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Long Beach, Fresno, Sacramento, Mesa, Kansas City, Cleveland, Virginia Beach, Omaha, Miami, Oakland, Tulsa, Honolulu, Minneapolis, Colorado Springs, Arlington and Wichita