March 5, 2013

Lawyers for Stryker Patients Urge Them to Move Quickly



Attorneys familiar with the Stryker ABGII and Rejuvenate hip implant recalls this past June are urging recipients of the all-metal hip implant to act quickly even if they have yet to experience adverse health effects from their implant. Stryker has already increased the amount of money set aside to cover the costs of the Stryker recall to between $190 and $390 million dollars. This money is meant to cover revision surgeries required by implant recipients, blood tests, MRIs, X-rays and the cost of insurance and impending lawsuits. While the all-metal hip implants were meant to last considerably longer than their ceramic and polyethylene predecessors, once thousands of people had been implanted with the metal-on-metal hip implants adverse reports starting coming in.

The Problem with All-Metal Hip Implants
When the cobalt and chromiumimplant parts rub against one another while the patient is walking, running or engaging in other normal day-to-day activities, the small metal ions shear away, becoming lodged in surrounding tissues or entering the patient’s bloodstream. Bone loss, tissue destruction and death and chronic pain are all reactions to the inflammation which occurs when the metal shards burrow into the hip tissues. When the cobalt and chromium enter the bloodstream, metal poisoning or toxicity can occur. The higher the metal levels in the body, the more likely the patient is to experience significant and negative health issues including: cardiovascular, renal, thyroid and gastrointestinal disorders, hearing and vision disturbances, anxiety, depression, memory loss, vertigo, skin issues, pseudo-tumors and disruption of DNA.

Failure Rates of Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants
Depending on the manufacturer and model of the all-metal hip implant, the failure rate can be as high as 40-60% in the first 4-5 years. Considering the magnitude of this failure rate, all those with a Stryker ABGII or Rejuvenate—or any other all-metal hip implant—would be well-advised to see their physician to have the necessary tests which will determine cobalt and chromium levels in the body as well as to consult with an attorney who is experienced in the all-metal implants. Even those implant recipients who have yet to experience significant health problems have a very good chance of developing those problems in the future. In order to ensure that the statute of limitations has not passed, leaving them with no help at all, implant recipients need to take action now.

Will Stryker Follow DePuy’s Lead?
It is likely that Stryker will follow the lead of DePuy and Johnson & Johnson who are currently embroiled in over 10,000 lawsuits over the recalled ASR hip implant. Over six-thousand lawsuits will be resolved in Federal Court under an MDL while the remainder will have their cases tried in state courts across the United States. Currently the first DePuy ASR is taking place in California and is in its fourth week. DePuy and Johnson & Johnson are attempting to shift the blame from the hip implant itself to the Plaintiff’s prior medical issues. Stryker will likely follow suit once Rejuvenate and ABGII lawsuits make it to a courtroom.

The Broadspire Connection
Stryker recently brought Broadspire—a third-party risk-management company—into the mix just as DePuy did following their ASR recall and subsequent lawsuits. Broadspire attempted to manage the DePuy lawsuits by sending out what is known as the “Broadspire letter,” which allowed Broadspire access to the medical records of those patients who signed the letter. Most lawyers believe this was a calculated move on Broadspire’s part. The theory put forth by many plaintiffs’ attorneys was that once they had access to victims’ medical records DePuy and Johnson & Johnson could use a patient’s prior medical history to shift the focus from the harm done by the metal hip implant.  Loren Kransky, the plaintiff in this first DePuy trial had cobalt levels nearly eight times the amount considered safe in his body prior to his revision surgery, yet it is almost a given that DePuy, Johnson & Johnson, and Stryker will do everything in their power to keep their financial exposure to a minimum.