A
recent meeting between the Judge chosen to oversee the multi-district litigation
in the DePuy Pinnacle hip implant case included attorneys from both sides. The
goal of the meeting was to determine the most practical manner of handling the
more than 1,000 current DePuy lawsuits. U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade—judge
for the northern district of Texas—will use the MDL in the interest of
expediting and coordinating these consolidated pre-trial proceedings. Unlike
many MDL cases, the DePuy case appears to be moving forward with case
management procedures expected in the next six weeks to two months.
The
initial MDL trials in the DePuy Pinnacle cases are bellwether trials with a purpose
of choosing representative cases from those filed to determine how juries will
likely react to evidence which is common to all the cases. During a bellwether
trial the judge and attorneys are able to gain knowledge which will be helpful
in negotiating future DePuy lawsuits. The process dictates that representative
attorneys will be chosen to try the DePuy bellwether trials; the knowledge
gained from these trials will be extremely helpful in planning strategies and
setting precedence for future Pinnacle cases. All attorneys involved in
litigating the DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implants will be watching the
bellwether cases closely as well as the entire MDL.
Serious Complications Resulting From
Metal-on-Metal Implants
Plaintiffs
involved in the DePuy Pinnacle MDL lawsuit allege they suffered serious
complications from the company’s metal-on-metal hip implant. One of the primary
complications experienced by recipients includes the premature death of
surrounding tissue and soft-tissue damage resulting from exposure to metal
shavings caused by the metal ball and joint rubbing against one another. Many
of those with the Pinnacle implant have been found to have elevated levels of
cobalt and chromium in their bloodstream as a result of these metal shavings.
These elevated levels of can lead to kidney and liver damage as well as
potentially causing certain cancers. Patients have also experienced chronic and
severe pain in the groin area and back and loosening of the implant device which
causes immobility.
DePuy
marketed a similar implant device, the ASR hip implant, which was recalled in
2010 due to higher-than-expected early failure rates. In spite of this, the
Pinnacle remained on the market and the manufacturer failed to warn patients
and physicians of the possible serious side effects. As far as the DePuy
Pinnacle MDL goes, while the specifics of each case will naturally vary, they
nonetheless must have a common claim. The common claim in the Pinnacle case is
that every plaintiff experienced severe complications as a direct result of the
metal-on-metal hip implant and that neither they nor their physicians were
properly warned. There are over 1,200 lawsuits currently filed against DePuy
with litigation pending in California and Georgia as well as Texas.
Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants Suffer High
Failure Rate
Over
400,000 recipients of the metal-on-metal hip implant were followed in a British
study. These surgeries occurred between 2003 and 2010, and the study results
showed that within a five-year period of time over 6% of the implants failed
completely. Therefore metal-on-metal hip implants are more than two-and-a-half
times more likely to fail than a comparable implant constructed from plastic or
ceramic. While it is impossible to predict which patients will suffer adverse reactions
from the hip implant, the number of patients coming forward to take part in a
DePuy lawsuit continues to rise.
