A judgment in a lawsuit alleging DePuy’s Pinnacle metal hip implant caused injuries.
Texas Court Rendered Judgment to DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Two years after a jury found for the defendants, a Texas federal court has entered a judgment in a lawsuit alleging DePuy’s Pinnacle metal hip implant caused injuries.
According to a recent Order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, a judgment has been rendered for DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. The verdict was reached in October 2014.
“Any relief not expressly granted herein is denied,” the court stated. “This is a final judgment with respect to all claims and parties.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Montana woman who was implanted with the metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hip implant. She alleged that the device caused her to suffer injuries.
Her case went to trial, and after eight weeks, on October 23, 2014, the jury issued a verdict for the defendants. This lawsuit was the first among thousands of similar claims to go to trial in Texas court and state courts across the nation.
The Plaintiff Suffered From “Severe Pain” In Her Hip
The plaintiff in the lawsuit was implanted with the metal-on-metal Pinnacle hip implant in both hips in 2009, according to the complaint. She alleged that she suffered “severe pain” in her hip and thigh shortly after the device was implanted.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiff indicates that her physician found that the implants were leaching dangerously high levels of cobalt and chromium into her blood stream. These health problems forced her to undergo revision surgery.
According to the lawsuit, testing revealed that her cobalt-blood serum levels were 85 times higher than normal.
The plaintiff’s physicians concluded that the woman’s metal-on-metal hip implants had failed, the lawsuit indicates. The woman underwent several surgeries to address the complications.
When the lawsuit went to trial, DePuy argued that her injuries resulted from the device being improperly implanted and not because the hip was defective. Attorneys for DePuy said that the Pinnacle did not have the same characteristics as the ASR hip implant, which was recalled worldwide due to high failure rates in 2010. DePuy settled most ASR lawsuits in 2013.
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