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DePuy Pinnacle Bellwether Trial Scheduled

DePuy Pinnacle Metal Hip Implant Lawsuits Scheduled to Begin

Depuy PinnacleThe first in a series of personal injury lawsuits against DePuy Orthopedics and it’s all-metal hip implant Pinnacle have been scheduled to begin in federal court in September.

Despite the medical manufacturer’s last-minute efforts to have the cases thrown out, 6,400 product injury lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) and the first bellwether trial will begin on September 1st, 2014.

The FDA received 300 complaints regarding device failure and personal injury from the DePuy all-metal hip implants. An estimate suggested that around 35,000 all-metal DePuy ASR hip implants had been used on United States patients between 2006 and 2010, when DePuy recalled 93,000 units of the all-metal hip device. While the company claimed that the all-metal hip implants would last longer than other models of artificial hips, such as ceramic and metal or plastic and metal, the devices actually failed at a higher rate, often earlier than 5 years.

A lawsuit brought forward by the Department of Justice in Oregon recently settled for $4 million.

The first DePuy Pinnacle bellwether case involves allegations from plaintiffs Kathleen Herlihy-Paoli and Toni M. Lay, who say that DePuy sold them unreasonably defective all-metal hip devices that were poorly designed and doomed to fail.

Ms. Herlihy-Paoli received a Pinnacle hip replacement device in 2009, but soon afterward she returned to her physician with complaints about pain at the surgical site. Her surgeon determined that the pieces of the all-metal hip device were rubbing together, destroying tissue and dislodging metal fragments, which released flakes of metal into the plaintiff’s bloodstream. In April 2011 – just two years after Herlihy-Paoli received the all-metal hip replacement – her surgeon had to remove the device.

Ms. Lay received her first DePuy Pinnacle in her right hip in 2006, followed by a second replacement hip the next year. Within four years of her first hip replacement surgery, her doctors found that she had dangerously high levels of cobalt and chromium in her bloodstream, and there was significant tissue death around the all-metal devices.

DePuy recently settled a large MDL alleging similar dangers and personal injury against its ASR all-metal hip device. Two more bellwether trials against the Pinnacle hip replacement have been scheduled, with the next group set to begin in November, and the third group in January.

The Strom Law Firm Can Help with DePuy Pinnacle Personal Injury Cases

Side effects of failure in all-metal hip replacement devices, like the DePuy Pinnacle or Stryker, include:

  • Pseudotumors from metal debris
  • Allergic reactions
  • Permanent muscle and tissue damage
  • Loose hip cups
  • Hip dislocations
  • Bone fractures

If you or a loved one has received a metal hip replacement device, specifically such as the DePuy Pinnacle, and have since suffered painful side effects, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help. We offer free, confidential consultations to discuss the facts of your case, so do not hesitate to contact us. 803.252.4800.

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