Stryker LFIT V40 Recall & Lawsuit

Another defective hip implant lawsuit is preparing to move forward. Multidistrict litigation is now underway in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts involving defective Stryker LFIT V40 femoral heads.

Why People Are Filing Lawsuits

In over 100 legal complaints, injured patients argue they suffered severe injuries after receiving one of Stryker’s LFIT V40 metal hip implants. They claim the Stryker hip replacement component should be considered defective, since it appears to fail prematurely – even under normal conditions of use. Most of the patients involved these lawsuits have needed invasive, painful and costly revision surgeries they maintain were due to the failure of the Stryker implant. Plaintiffs claim that, “The Devices installed in the hips of Plaintiffs herein were not compatible with human tissue and bone. The Devices released heavy cobalt and chromium metals into the bodies of Plaintiffs’ herein causing severe and permanent destruction of bone and tissue. Defendants manufactured the product such that it caused fretting and corrosion.”

Explaining the Stryker LFIT V40 Defect

The LFIT CoCr V40TM Femoral Head received FDA clearance in 2001. And in 2006, the FDA cleared the LFIT Anatomic CoCr V40TM Femoral Head. Stryker’s entire line of chrome cobalt femoral heads were designed to be utilized with a wide variety of Stryker V40 taper femoral stems a system unique to Stryker, and not utilized by any other orthopedic device manufacturers. Plaintiffs contend that at the connection between Stryker’s V40 chrome cobalt head and Stryker’s V40 femoral stem trunnion, poor design and material choices lead to micro-motion, fretting, corrosion and ultimately failure of the device due to the generation of metal wear debris.

Stryker LFIT V40 Recalls

In August 2016, Stryker began to recall certain lots of LFIT V40 Heads manufactured prior to 2011 after recieving “several complaints describing incidence of harm secondary to taper lock failure.” Not all sizes were recalled, only 36, 40 and 44 mm head diameters with certain specific offsets. In the current lawsuits plaintiffs say Stryker’s selective recall ignored the true scope of the issue and only served to “minimize the gravity and failure of the problem.”

Stryker Settlements

If any of this sounds familiar – it should. In 2014 Stryker agreed to pay over $1billion to settle more than 4000 lawsuits over its defective Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implants. The ABG II and Rejuvenate hip components had been recalled by Stryker in 2012 after they admitted that the artificial hips were subject to fret, corrode, loosen and ultimately fail, resulting in revision surgery to remove the defective hip implant. Both the Stryker ABG II and Rejuvenate hips contained modular stems, with two pieces that fit inside each other to allow the surgeon to customize the length based on the patient. Like the LFIT CoCr V40TM Femoral Head, there were similar complaints of fretting and corrosion causing the components to grind against each other and release metallic debris inside the body.

The Stryker’s LFIT V40 implants join the Rejuvenate and ABG II metal-on-metal hip implants in what has become the largest medical device failure in history. Others in the class have included the DePuy ASR and Pinnacle, the Zimmer Durom Cup, the Smith & Nephew R3, Biomet Magnum, Encore, Wright Profemur, Converse, Dynasty, and Lineage implants.

Speak to an Experienced Attorney

At Saunders & Walker we continue to accept and file hip implant lawsuits against many of these manufacturers. We are actively investigating the cases of patients who believe they were injured by Stryker hip implants. If you or a loved one were injured after a Stryker hip replacement, had an implant fail prematurely, or are suffering from metal poisoning caused by an implant, Saunders & Walker can help. Contact us for a free consultation and learn more about case eligibility.