William Kokoszka, a 54 year-old Connecticut resident, has filed a personal injury lawsuit against Zimmer Inc., for extreme pain and injuries due to a defective artificial hip manufactured by Zimmer.

In each case, the patient experienced excruciating pain following implantation of the Zimmer Durom Cup and all have, or soon will, be forced to undergo a painful revision surgery.

“At my age, I wanted to continue my active lifestyle, including spending time with my family, working with my charities, traveling with my husband, and being able to perform basic daily activities,” stated Renee Donnelly, age 74, of Paradise Valley, Arizona, one of the patients that filed a lawsuit.  “However, once I was implanted with the defective Durom Cup, my life became very limited.”

“I used to lead a very fulfilling and active lifestyle, traveling abroad, exercising regularly, volunteering, and working in my garden.  Now, my life is so limited due to the pain that the defective Durom Cup implant has caused me,” stated plaintiff Karen Hoggarth, age 54, of  Westerville, Ohio. “I can’t even walk up the stairs without pain.”

“The quality of life physically and mentally, today and in the future, for myself and my family has been permanently damaged by the defective Zimmer Durom Cup I received in 2006,” added William Kokoszka, another plaintiff from Meriden, Connecticut.  “Zimmer should be accountable for its negligence and disregard for the safety of patients implanted with the Zimmer Durom Cup.”

Zimmer Durom Cup Lawsuits

The Durom Cup was first sold in the nation in 2006 and was implanted in over 12,000 patients over a two year period.  The estimated failure rates of the Durom Cup ranges between 20% and 30%.

After the Durom Cup was introduced in the United States, Zimmer began receiving complaints from physicians that the artificial hip was failing.  “Despite warnings from leading orthopedic surgeons, Zimmer continued to aggressively market the Durom Cup in 2007 and into 2008, blaming surgeons for the growing failure rate,” stated attorney Wendy R. Fleishman of the national law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP.

Learn more about the Zimmer Durom Cup and defective hip implant lawsuits.

According to the article, Dr. Berger, a top surgeon, consultant, trainer, and artificial joint designer for Zimmer Holdings, began complaining to the company concerning the alleged premature failure of one of its artificial knees, the NexGen CR-Flex, an advanced version of the standard Zimmer knee, known as the NexGen. Dr. Berger then went public with the claim strengthened by a study that he confirms proves it. In response, Zimmer denied the claim and blamed the premature failure of the NexGen CR-Flex on Dr. Berger’s technique. Dr. Berger’s contract was not renewed the following year.

Dr. Lawrence Dorr, another major Zimmer consultant, alerted the company of the failure of one its artificial hip models, the Durom hip. As with Dr. Berger, Zimmer denied the claim and blamed the problem on Dr. Dorr’s technique.

American manufacturers of orthopedic devices, a $6.7 billion annual business, are not subject to the voluntary system of investigations by outside panels. Artificial joints, such as Zimmer’s NexGen knee and the Durom hip, are cleared for sale under law by the Food and Drug Administration without being subject to testing in patients. Moreover, the long-term performance of artificial joints is not tracked in the nation.

Bloomberg Businessweek also published an article that sheds light on surgeons’ conflicts of interest in recommending certain hip and knee implants over others. The article, titled, “New Hips Gone Awry Expose U.S. Kickbacks in Doctors’ Conflicts,” explains the government’s involvement in supervising the financial relationships between surgeons and major manufacturers of knees and hips due to the widespread ‘kickbacks’ that occur. Zimmer Holdings Inc. is listed as one of the major knee and hip manufacturers that cut physician payments as a result of the government’s intervention.

Read these full articles on the The New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek websites. Learn more about Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implant Injuries and the rights of victims.

Walter Thomas, a 63-year-old retired manufacturing plant supervisor, may be left with a permanent limp, he alleges in a personal injury lawsuit filed against Zimmer Inc, the manufacturer of his faulty artificial hip implant.

Thomas, a 63-year-old retired manufacturing plant manager, endured agonizing pain for months, many hip dislocations, two revision surger

ies, and has been left with a potentially lasting limp due to Zimmer’s allegedly defective hip implant.

“This has been a very trying time in my life for me and my family,” Thomas stated.  “When my artificial hip was implanted in May of 2007, I was hoping for a quick recovery.  Never did I think that I would have to endure two additional surgeries, three hip dislocations which resulted in trips to the Emergency Room, several weeks of physical therapy, and the frightening prospect of being permanently handicapped because of Zimmer’s faulty product.  To me, this lawsuit is about holding Zimmer accountable for what they did to me.”

“Zimmer’s belated suspension of sales of its defective product was too little, too late for Mr. Thomas and for countless other folks, who needed safe and effective hip implants to restore their ability to sit, stand and walk without excruciating pain” stated Thomas’ attorney Mark P. Chalos of national law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP.
“Now, those same men and women suffer from pain worse than before the ‘fix’ to their hips, and some, like Mr. Thomas have permanent limps. Zimmer should do right by Mr. Thomas and his family.”

Learn more about Durom Cup injuries and the rights of victims.

Todd Lovelace, a 45-year old truck driver from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, received a Zimmer Durom Cup in May 2008 as part of hip replacement surgery on his left hip. After months of great pain, agony, difficulty walking and bearing weight, he was compelled to undergo a second surgery to remove the defective cup in December 2008. Lovelace stated, “It’s ruined my life. I’m in chronic pain and have lost my job as a result of this defective device.”

In December 2007, the Durom Cup was implanted in Christine Walker, a 53-year old former registered nurse from West Palm Beach, Florida. She too suffered months of great pain and agony, necessitating her to stop working. In December 2008, her Durom Cup was removed. “I believed that after my hip replacement I would return to my career in nursing and to my active lifestyle with my husband of thirty-seven years. Instead, I live every minute of every day in pain and worry, with the loss of my career, how much more I am going to lose.”

“The complaint estimates that upwards of 24% of patients that received the Durom Cup will be forced to undergo revision surgery,” plaintiffs’ counsel Wendy R. Fleishman commented. “It is long past the time for Zimmer to formally recall the Durom Cup and take responsibility for the extreme pain and injuries its defective product has caused thousands of patients across America.”

Learn more about Zimmer Durom Hip defects and the rights of people injured by the Durom Cup.

The hospital, CoxHealth in Springfield, said half of all patients undergoing a particular type of treatment — stereotactic radiation therapy — were overdosed by about 50 percent after an unidentified medical physicist at the hospital miscalibrated the new equipment and routine checks over the next five years failed to catch the error.

The revelation comes at a time of growing concern about safety procedures for a new generation of powerful, computer-controlled medical radiation equipment.

Sadly, these kinds of deadly errors often could have been avoided if the medical providers had followed basic safety protocols as well as ensured that their protocols provided sufficient patient safety.

Lieff Cabraser has successfully represented patients improperly exposed to radiation by medical providers.  If you or a loved one suffered a severe injury due to excessive radiation as a patient, we can assist you in holding the hospital or medical facility accountable.  Please click here to contact a Lieff Cabraser personal injury attorney.

When the Sprint Fidelis leads fracture, the defibrillator can fail to send a needed electrical jolt, and the patient can die. Or the defibrillator can send repeated, massive shocks, which can themselves be fatal.

In March 2009, Medtronic disclosed that at least 13 Sprint Fidelis patients may have died, including four patients whose deaths were related to efforts by doctors to surgically remove the product. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the FDA database includes at least 12 additional deaths allegedly linked to the recalled device.

“The hazard of [Sprint] Fidelis lead fracture is increasing exponentially with time and, based on our data, occurring at a higher rate than the latest manufacturer’s performance update,” doctors at the University of Rochester concluded in findings published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology [abstract only].

The study found that the three-year survival rate of 426 Medtronic leads inserted in the hospital’s patients was 90.8%, meaning 9.2% failed. In December 2009, one report estimated the failure rate of the Sprint Fidelis lead may eventually reach 30% of all patients.

Medtronic Heart Device Lawsuits

In lawsuits against Medtronic, patients represented by Lieff Cabraser have alleged that a design defect is responsible for their lead fractures. The complaints also allege that Medtronic failed to act timely as it knew of large numbers of failures of the device at least a year prior to issuing the recall. Learn more about the Medtronic heart lead recall.

“Although medical-device and pharmaceutical companies can use post-market studies legitimately to obtain information about how their products work in the field, they cannot use those studies, and the honoraria associated with them, to induce physicians to use their products,” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston said in the statement. Boston Scientific will enter into a corporate integrity agreement, which requires the Natick, Massachusetts-based company’s cardiac rhythm management unit to disclose payments to doctors on its Web site.

Read the full story on the Business Week website.

When Medtronic introduced the Sprint Fidelis heart lead to the market in 2004, the company hailed it as next generation technology, a lead thinner and easier to implant than its older Sprint Quattro models. However, by  2007, Medtronic stopped selling the lead after reports the wire broke apart inside the body.

Many patients have received repetitive and devastating electrical shocks after their Sprint Fidelis lead fractured. In March 2009, Medtronic disclosed that at least 13 Sprint Fidelis patients may have died, including four patients whose deaths were related to efforts by doctors to surgically remove the product.

A key question from the beginning of the recall has been what is the failure rate of the device.  As noted in a December 29, 2009, Bloomberg article, “A report by UBS Investment Research Monday said lead failures could accelerate over time, citing independent studies that predict failure rates could hit 30 percent by four years.”

For answers to more questions about the Medtronic heart lead recall visit http://www.medtronicheartleadrecall.com. Learn also why it is necessary for Congress to adopt  the Medical Device Safety Act to restore the right of Americans with heart defibrillators, artificial valves, artificial knee and hip implants, and other medical devices to hold manufacturers of faulty products accountable.

A separate analysis by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found heart devices frequently got the FDA’s blessing based on research done outside the United States in small groups of patients. Many device studies lacked standards most scientists expect: randomization and a clear goal. Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA’s acting device center director, said the agency is taking a close look at its device program and making changes. It wants manufacturers to adhere to tougher research guidelines that will be out in 2010, Shuren said.

The FDA, the nation’s chief watchdog on device safety, approves products ranging from wrinkle fillers to artificial knees. Heart devices fall into a category of high-risk devices that require the toughest review before they can be marketed. They include implantable defibrillators, valves and stents, which are tiny mesh-metal tubes used to prop open arteries.

The new studies, published in separate medical journals, cap a year of scrutiny and criticism for the FDA’s medical devices division. In August, the head of that division resigned, months after scientists under his leadership alleged they were pressured to approve certain products. The year began with congressional investigators saying the FDA should take immediate steps to make sure the riskiest devices are approved through the most stringent process.

Read the full article on the San Francisco Chronicle website.

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.