Wright Conserve hip implant lawsuits are being consolidated in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The hip devices are metal-on-metal.
Allegations include claims that the Wright Conserve hip implants cause injuries similar to the growing injuries being seen in the DePuy ASR and Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip system, said Injury Board. DePuy is a unit of healthcare giant, Johnson & Johnson. This MDL is just one of three being organized to consolidate pre-trial proceedings for those plaintiffs who have filed law suits over faulty metal hip devices.
The Wright Conserve hip-replacement system involved includes the Conserve Femoral Surface Replacement, the Conserve Plus Total Resurfacing Hip System, the Conserve Total A-Class Advanced Metal, and the Conserve Total Hip System, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through its fast-track 510(k) process, explained Injury Board.
Plaintiffs in the Wright Metallosis and Early Replacement action allege they were never advised about early failure risks for these devices and that they suffered from metallosis, said Injury Board. Metallosis is a condition in which increased chromium and cobalt blood levels are seen and can occur when particles are shed from the grinding metal components of faulty, all-metal hip devices, explained Injury Board. Metal particles may damage area muscle and tissue and may lead to cancer.
The DePuy ASR MDL involves more than 3,500 lawsuits filed over the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant replacement systems; litigation has been ongoing over the past 18 months in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, noted Injury Board. Johnson & Johnson recalled the defective DePuy hip devices in August 2010. NewsInferno noted that the global recall was initiated after it was found that the devices were failing in about 12% of patients within five years. According to NewsInferno, a hip implant should last about 10-to-15 years.
The DePuy Pinnacle MDL was organized for over 900 patients in the Northern District of Texas, Dallas. These defective all-metal systems have never been recalled; however, as NewsInferno pointed out, plaintiffs argue that the Pinnacle is similar in design to the ASR implants and should have been recalled, as well. Injury Board noted that the DePuy Pinnacle is considered by Johnson and Johnson to be its “flagship product.”
NewsInferno recently wrote that nationwide lawsuits have also been filed alleging that the Biomet Magnum hip replacement, another all-metal device, is defective and may cause the need for early revision surgery.
Since the DePuy ASR Hip implant recall, metal-on-metal hip implant concerns have grown. As a matter-of-fact, last May, the FDA directed 21 all-metal hip replacement devices firms to conduct post-market studies of these products to determine if the devices were shedding dangerous levels of metallic debris in patients. Also, the British Medical Journal revealed last month that while makers of metal-on-metal hip implants knew for years of the mounting evidence linking the all-metal hip replacements to significant, long-term health consequences, they never warned the public, said NewsInferno.
