Metallosis from Pinnace Hip Implant Triggers Woman to Sue DePuy

She complains of metal micro flakes invading her very system from the inside.  And, with this, came a host of seemingly unending pains.

 

On the 28th day of December  2012, a hip lawsuit against Pinnacle was filed by Lisa Payne. She alleged that the Pinnacle hip implant has given her injuries, causing her to suffer from metallosis. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, said the lawsuit has multiple defendants namely:  Johnson & Johnson Inc., DePuyOrthopaedics Inc., Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. and a physician named  Thomas P. Schmalzried.

Metal Poisoning  from Metal-on-Metal Rubbing

On May 10, 2009 Payne had her DePuy Pinnacle Hip Replacement System implanted.  According to the complaint, it was not long after said hip surgery that her ordeal began. She started experiencing severe pain. Added to this, she had loosening of the implant,  causing her instability.

Worse, she became a victim of metal poisoning which developed after toxic metal particles flaked off and got deposited into her tissues and bones through the bloodstream. This is caused by the metal-on-metal components of the hip implant clashing upon each other.

Pinnacle Lacks Adequate Safety Testing, Lawsuit Charges

The lawsuit alleges that Pinnacle lacked adequate safety testing before seeing the market. The hip implant  was able to get through the FDA because of the 501(k) process which allows products that are “substantially equivalent” to already approved products to pass.

And the complaint asserts that if the Pinnacle had been properly tested, DePuy would have been able to know about the complications of the device before it was launched. Specifically, the manufacturer should have been aware of metallosis,  a complication found  in many patients using the hip implant.

Study Reveals High Rates of Failure for Metal Implants

Many, not only Payne, are suffering from the complications of metal-on-metal hip implants. This has been revealed in a British study involving  400,000  hip replacement surgeries which transpired from the year 2003 up to 2011.

The study showed that in a span of five years, 6 percent of the total metal implants failed while only 1.6 percent of ceramic or plastic implants failed. In conclusion, the study stipulated that metal-on-metal implants should “not be implanted” because of its poor survival rate.

Plaintiff is seeking punitive,  special, punitive and exemplary damages for injuries that are economic and non-economic.  

There are indications  that plaintiffs in a DePuy Pinnacle lawsuit have a high likelihood of getting a favourable settlement. One such indication can be found in the legal funding industry. Many legal funding companies have provided plaintiffs with non recourse cash gifts in their pending cases. In simple terms, this provides funding for these lawsuits, a financial aid that needs no repayment should the verdict go unfavourable.

Therefore, it is more advantageous  to be forthright in filing a Pinnacle lawsuit against DePuy to avoid losing one’s right to a just compensation. In this regard, the internet has given another distinct advantage, providing quality information and legal expertise in sites like www.rotlaw.com of the Rottenstein Law Group(RLG) for example.

Perhaps Payne is wondering how these things could have happened to her. When upon professional advice, she was promised a solution to her hip problem.