Stryker Corporation reached an agreement to compensate additional eligible U.S. patients who had surgery to replace their Rejuvenate Modular-Neck hip stem and/or ABG II Modular-Neck hip stem, known as a revision surgery, prior to December 19, 2016. The agreement is a modification of the 2014 Settlement Program in which Stryker Corporation announced that Howmedica Osteonics Corp. (referred to as “Stryker Orthopaedics”), a subsidiary of Stryker Corporation, and Court-appointed committees of attorneys representing Rejuvenate Modular-Neck and ABG II Modular-Neck plaintiffs in New Jersey Multicounty and Federal Multidistrict litigations.
The defective Rejuvenate Modular-Neck hip stem and/or ABG II Modular-Neck hip stem have had numerous problems and design defects including recalls of the devices in 2012. Since the recall, Stryker has faced so many defective hip lawsuits that these lawsuits were consolidated into a multi-district litigation in order to share discovery material and ensure the smooth processing of these lawsuits through the court system.
The recall came three months after Stryker issued an “Urgent Field Safety Notice” to surgeons and hospital risk managers pointing out the potential health hazards associated with the two products — including corrosion and “fretting,” which allows minute shards of its metallic components to leach into a patient’s tissues, bones and bloodstream. This could cause a condition known as metallosis, or metal poisoning. A number of people claimed they suffered painful side effects like tissue and bone death at the implant site and early device failure.
If you or a loved one has suffered with these Stryker hip models and aren’t yet enrolled in the multidistrict litigation, please call Attorney Joe Saunders for a free initial consultation. It is expected that a majority of the payments under the Settlement Agreement will be made by the end of 2017.