Defective hip replacements manufactured by the medical devices corporation Stryker Orthopaedics resulted in thousands of recipients needing additional revision surgery. The products (Stryker Rejuvenate Hip Stem and ABG II Modular Hip Stem) were removed from the market in June 2012, but not before 20,000 patients in the U.S. received them during hip replacement procedures. In a recent multi-venue medical malpractice case, Stryker settled thousands of federal claims brought against it as a result of the faulty devices, which in total will pay more than $1 billion to claimants.
Defective Product
The two hip replacement products were of metal-on-metal construction, a type of construction that was found to have problems with corrosion and fretting around the time the products were placed on the market. However, Stryker maintained that its testing showed no such problems with these products, and marketed them as such. However, significant evidence showed that not only was corrosion and fretting a problem with these products, but that it was even worse than other metal-on-metal hip replacement products on the market.
Approximately 20,000 patients in the U.S. received these products during hip replacement surgery before it was removed from the market. Many needed revision surgery to correct the problems caused by the faulty devices. Others needed revision surgery but were too infirmed to undergo surgery by the time the problems were discovered.
The settlement Covers:
Patients who had revision surgery before November 3, 2014.
Patients who need revision surgery but are too infirmed to receive it.
The settlement does not cover those who received the faulty products and
are healthy enough to undergo a revision but have not yet done so.