Seven More Plaintiffs Sue Stryker over Defective Hip Implant Devices

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- South Florida law firm Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA (Searcy Denney) today announced that it has filed seven additional lawsuits against Howmedica Osteonics Corporation, dba Stryker Orthopaedics, over the company's Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implant systems.  

Searcy Denney filed the nation's first lawsuit over the recalled medical device in early August on behalf of a plaintiff in Boca Raton, Fla. The expanded claims against Stryker include allegations from plaintiffs in Lake Worth, Fla., Boynton Beach, Fla., Pillage, Minn., Boca Raton, Fla., St. Cloud, Minn., and two from Tucson, Ariz. All of the suits were filed in Bergen County (N.J.) Superior Court and allege that Stryker negligently developed, tested, manufactured, distributed, marketed, and sold its defective "Rejuvenate System."

"We have reached a decisive stage in this litigation as legitimate claims are now proliferating nationwide," said Cal Warriner, a shareholder at Searcy Denney who represents the eight total plaintiffs. "The Rejuvenate System has only been on the market since 2009, yet, just a few years later, an overwhelming number of patients have suffered heavy metal toxicity."

"Stryker marketed its devices as an improvement over and alternative to other metal-on-metal hip implants when in fact these systems have caused significantly more severe injuries than comparable systems on the market."

In April 2012, Stryker issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice to surgeons and hospitals, which acknowledged reports of heavy metal contamination, such as that experienced by the eight total plaintiffs. Stryker then issued a recall of the devices in Canada, followed in July by a U.S. voluntary recall of the same Rejuvenate and ABG II hip replacement systems.

"The recall is a clear admission by Stryker that its product is defective and dangerous," said Warriner.

The seven new plaintiffs were implanted with the devices between June 2009 and September 2011 and underwent corrective revision surgery in as little as eight months. In each instance, the revision surgery revealed heavy metal toxicity, including "the presence of milky, turbid fluid; large pseudotumor formation; soft tissue necrosis; muscle loss and/or bony necrosis at the proximal femur," according to the complaint.

Stryker's Rejuvenate System, which features a chrome cobalt neck and titanium stem, is marketed to patients in need of primary total hip arthroplasty or replacement, often due to painful joint diseases caused by non-inflammatory degenerative arthritis.

Thousands of Stryker victims have been notified that their recalled hip may be poisoning them and Stryker has given no assurance that it will pay to have the device removed. "I get several calls a day from distraught clients wondering if this disaster is going to bankrupt them," said Warriner. "Many simply can't afford to have it removed. Stryker has really aggravated a lot of doctors with its response to this recall. Doctors are jumping ship to other manufacturers' products because they are disgusted."

The plaintiffs seek compensatory, consortium, actual, and punitive damages. They are requesting a jury trial.

About Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA: 

A nationally recognized trial law firm, Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, P.A. is committed to protecting victims of negligence, defective products and corporate wrongdoing.  Over the past 35 years, the firm has represented clients in courtrooms throughout Florida and across the nation.

SOURCE Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA