This month, CBS affiliate WNEM reported that a settlement has been reached in a lawsuit over defective Stryker hips. In this defective hip replacement settlement, Stryker agreed to pay over $1.4 billion in damages to patients who received faulty implants.
For more on defective hip replacements, check out our sister blog, DangerousDrugs
WNEM writes, “Thousands of other hip replacement patients complained of the same pain after going under the knife. Stryker issued a worldwide recall of the products in July of 2012. …
Attorney Terry Cochran said Stryker manufactured the Rejuvinator and the ABG, both of which were linked to a condition called [metalosis]. That’s when the metal hips become corroded around the joints of the femur.”
The minimum settlement for each patient is slated to be $300,000, but many patients will require secondary “revision” surgery, a costly procedure that will be paid out of each patient’s settlement.
Click to watch a video about the Stryker hip replacement settlement
To-date, a many Americans have received faulty hips that fail prematurely and require revision surgery from Stryker or other manufacturers like DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc and Johnson & Johnson. This has prompted a number of hip replacement lawsuits – the present class-action hip replacement settlement is notable because of its size and scope.
Cochran continued, stating “As a result of that these ions placed into the blood system cobalt and chromium, it was the cobalt and chromium that caused what was called local tissue irritation in the hip joint and over time this simply broke down the muscles in the area causing pseudo tumors” and other debilitating ailments.
Bloomberg noted that “Last year, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), the world’s biggest seller of health-care products, agreed to pay at least $2.5 billion to settle litigation over its ASR metal-on-metal hip device. J&J is in talks about a $250 million settlement that would extend compensation to an additional 1,000 ASR hip recipients, people familiar with the negotiations said last week.”
For the Stryker hip replacement settlement, some 1,800 cases are being consolidated “before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul, Minnesota. In those suits, some hip recipients blamed the Stryker implants for high levels of metal debris found in their blood.”
The above-referenced Bloomberg piece also explained that Stryker “reported more than $9 billion in 2013 revenue” and “touted its artificial hips as lasting for years, but some failed within two years of being implanted, according to court filings.”
Officially, the New Jersey “case is In Re Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II Modular Hip Implant Litigation, 296 BER-L-936-13, Bergen County Superior Court (Hackensack). The federal case is In Re Stryker Rejuvenate Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, 13-mdl-2441, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota (St. Paul).”
As more details become clear, we’ll update you here at Legal Reader with everything you need to know.
Join the conversation!