Defective Medical Devices – Defective Hip Replacement

Hip replacement surgery, or arthoplasty, is common among the elderly or people who suffer from osteoporosis, arthritis, bone tumors or injuries. In many cases, hip replacement surgery is the last resort, when other alternative therapies have failed. The hip replacement operation takes between one to two hours and recovery and rehabilitation takes over six months. In hip replacement surgery, the injured or diseased portions of the hip joint are removed and replaced by a prosthesis - an artificial hip joint. Annually, over 300,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed in the United States.

There have been two major recalls of artificial hip joints in the United States market, which have affected thousands of recipients of hip joint replacements. Both have led to class action lawsuits against the manufacturer. The FDA estimates that roughly 18,000 defective hip joints have been surgically implanted into patients and need to be replaced. The two defective joints in question were manufactured by Sulzer and St. Gobain Desmarquest of France.

In the Sulzer case, a manufacturing error left a residue of mineral oil on the artificial hips, which prevents the hips from fusing with the bone. The patients who already had the defective hip joints implanted had to undergo surgery to replace the defective joint. Subsequent to a class action lawsuit, the company placed US$725 million in a settlement trust to compensate all claimants.

The second case involves defective hip components which were disintegrating and fracturing after implantation. Following this discovery, the FDA recalled the product. The class action lawsuit against the company is currently still in progress.