Fortune 500 medical device manufacturer Stryker Corporation has reached an agreement to settle thousands of lawsuits with patients who have been forced to have surgery to remove their problematic hip implants. The medical implant manufacturer is expected to pay at least $1.43 billion to thousands of patients across 39 states. Indeed, according to attorneys that negotiated the deal, “the settlement represents one of the largest medical device settlements with an unlimited compensation fund.”
In 2012, Stryker Corporation recalled two of their metal hip components over concerns that the parts would corrode. As the device corrodes, Cobalt and Chromium metal ions are released into the surrounding tissue and bones. The toxic metal in the hip capsule destroys both bone and soft tissue. In addition to resulting in pain, swelling and inflammation in the surrounding tissue, patients have also suffered from illnesses related to metal poisoning.
Stryker is not the first major medical implant provider to experience problems with corrosion in hip implants. In 2013, Johnson & Johnson settled over 8,000 lawsuits for $2.5 billion with patients forced to have the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implants surgically replaced or removed. While Stryker’s hip implants do not feature the same ball-and-socket design, both defective implant designs feature metal-on-metal components as opposed to traditional metal-on-plastic hip implants. Symptoms of defective hip implants include difficulty walking, dislocations, pain near the hip region, inflammation, and swelling around the hip region.
When someone is injured as a result of a product defect, such as a corroding hip implant, it is important to understand your right to recover financially. If you or someone you know has been injured or killed due to a product defect, contact an attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.