The number of complaints filed in state and federal courts by patients who have experienced problems and injuries from the Stryker Rejuvenate hip replacement is about 1,000. Now that DePuy hip lawsuits have reached a settlement last month, more attention will be placed on these claims.
Stryker began selling their Rejuvenate hip implant in 2009 and the ABG II hip system in 2010. They did not conduct any clinical testing on the safety and effectiveness on either of these devices prior to introducing these devices to the market.
Not even two years after the Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II artificial hip systems were introduced and marketed as the “next generation,” they began to fail despite the expectation of a 15-20 year lifetime.
Traditional hip implants are made of a single femoral component. The Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II models are two pieces of modular neck-stems, which fit inside one another, allowing the surgeon to customize the length of the femoral size according to the patient. It was discovered that when the neck and stem rub together the release tiny metal particles into the tissues in the body, caused by the chromium cobalt neck rubbing against the titanium femoral stem.
A multidistrict litigation (MDL) was created in June 2013 so all the complaints filed in U.S. District Courts nationwide could be centralized before one judge. Recently it was reported that there are at least 395 cases centralized in the Stryker Rejuvenate MDL. The purpose of an MDL is to reduce duplication of discovery and avoid pretrial rulings from different judges.
A multi-county litigation (MCL) was created consisting of a large number of cases that have been filed in New Jersey, state headquarters for Stryker. It was recently estimated that there are at least 553 Stryker Rejuvenate or ABG II lawsuits that have been centralized.
Most likely a small group of these cases will be prepared for trial as a test. These are known as ‘bellwether cases.’ It allows the parties to see how the jury decides and can help determine whether settlement talks or further negotiations are in order.
Stryker recently released in a report that it estimates the total amount it may need to pay in settlements and associated costs may exceed $1 billion.
Many more lawsuits will be forthcoming since presently only 5 percent of patients who received the defective Stryker Rejuvenate and ABG II implants have brought a lawsuit.
If you or a loved one received a Stryker Rejuvenate or ABG II hip replacement device and suffer pain or injury we may be able to help you. Feel free to contact one of our Gacovino Lake attorneys at 1-800-246-HURT (4878).
