Stryker Corporation and Howmedica Osteonics Corporation have once again agreed to expand their settlement offer and include new claimants after their last settlement offer in December 2016. The new agreement involves the addition of hip replacement patients for two years prior to the most recent date of November 3, 2014.
In December 2016, Stryker announced it will “compensate additional eligible U.S. patients who had surgery to replace their Rejuvenate Modular Neck Hip Stem and ABG II Modular Neck Hip Stem, known as a revision surgery, prior to December 19, 2016.” Enrollment for the new program began Jan. 17 and ends March 1, 2017.
This settlement expansion comes in the wake of another huge hip replacement settlement involving Stryker’s rival, Johnson & Johnson last month. In December 2016, a federal jury in Dallas ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $1 billion to six patients, who filed a lawsuit alleging they were harmed by the Pinnacle hip implants.
The Rejuvenate and ABGII hips were recalled in 2012 after reports of higher than normal failure and revision surgery rates. Prior to the recall, Stryker sent an Urgent Field Safety Notice to doctors informing them that the stems could allow metal debris into the blood and nearby tissues.
Thousands of patients who received the recalled hip implants filed lawsuits against Stryker. Plaintiffs said Stryker failed to warn them of complications including metallosis, a condition that may cause swelling, pain, infections and implant failure.
These are not the only problematic Stryker hips which are the subject of lawsuits. Stryker may face additional lawsuits concerning the metal Stryker LFIT v40 femoral head. Surgeons typically use the LFIT v40 with the Stryker Accolade TMZF, Accolade 2, Meridian, and Citation.
In August 2016, the company removed more than 42,500 LFIT v40 implants from the market because of reports of adverse events.
