First sold in the United States in 2006, the Zimmer Durom cup was implanted in more than 12,000 patients prior to its recall in in July 2008 due to a high failure rate.

At the time, Zimmer denied its hip implant was defective and said it expected to resume sales once specialized training for doctors had begun.  However, hundreds, if not thousands, of patients will need to undergo surgery to replace the faulty artificial hip.  At the time of the recall, leading hip replacement surgeon Dr. Lawrence Dorr laid the blame squarely on Zimmer.  ”It is a bad design,” he said in a New York Times article.

Since then more than 50 Zimmer patients from more than 25 states have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for their physical injuries, cost of replacement surgery and other financial difficulties as a result of the failure of their implant.  The Zimmer hip lawsuit complaints charge that the company concealed from patients that the hip implant was defective.