Last year, Stryker Orthopaedics withdrew two of its hip implants from the market due to high failure rates, as stated in the company’s official webpage. After discovering that the hip devices can possibly cause serious adverse effects that can lead to hip failure, the company had no choice but to issue the recall. Many hip replacement lawsuits were filed since then, claiming that Stryker had not warn prospective patients properly of the risks involved in being implanted with one of its hip devices.

The Rejuvenate and ABG II hip replacement systems are the hip devices being referred to in the above paragraph. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave these two hip replacement systems market approval in 2008 and 2009. Reports say the agency used its largely disputed 510(k) approval process, which allegedly allows poorly tested medical devices to be marketed to the public. Nevertheless, the devices rose in popularity shortly after market release. Their rise in popularity may be due to the manufacturer’s promises to the consumers, which include an increased range of motion, and a long-lasting hip implant. Stryker stated that the hip devices can provide orthopedic surgeons the option to custom-fit hip implant patients according to their anatomy. Nevertheless, despite their popularity, there were thousands of cases reported to the FDA, where patients have suffered from complications and injuries related to the Rejuvenate and ABG II hip replacement systems. Based on these reports, a fraction of the patients had to undergo hip revision procedures in order to alleviate their complications. Many of these implant patients claim to have sustained permanent injuries.

The Rejuvenate and ABG II modular hip systems, just like many other metal-on-metal (MoM) hips, have been associated with heavy metal poisoning complications. Metallosis, cobalt poisoning, tissue necrosis, and bone loss, are among such complications.

Wanting to be compensated for all their suffering, alleged victims of Stryker hip complications have filed a lawsuit against the company. As a the number of Stryker lawsuits rises, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) established a Stryker multidistrict litigation in June 2013.

 

topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/prescription/4372-stryker-hip-implant-lawsuits-centralized-in-minnesota-mdl/
mnd.uscourts.gov/MDL-Stryker/index.shtml
stryker.com/en-us/products/Orthopaedics/modularneckstems/index.htm
prweb.com/releases/2013/11/prweb11334603.htm