Sunday, March 1, 2009

Zimmer Durom Cup Lawsuits are Pending

By Maxwell Schmickman

Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implants had been used successfully in Europe for 3 years prior to being approved for use in the United States in 2006. Less than two years later, the device had already been implanted in more than 12,000 American patients, and numerous problems with the implants were already beginning to surface. American doctors started searching for reasons the procedures had failed and pinpointed the cup as a defective product that was prone to problems.

Most states within the U.S. have laws designed to help patients who incur pain and suffering caused by defects in prosthetic devices. Per these laws, patients are entitled to compensation for their pain, medical expenses, and lost wages if it can be proven that a defective implant was to blame for their problems. Although Zimmer still stands fully behind its device based on its track record in Europe, it voluntarily pulled the product from the American market in July, 2008 in order to develop better training methods for doctors who insert the implants.

There are many websites on the Internet of attorneys who feel they can help patients file successful suits against Zimmer. Perform a search using the keywords "Zimmer Durom Cup Lawsuits" if you'd like to contact one of them. The number of failed implants is growing, and these attorneys who have researched the problem believe that patients have a good case against the company. Many physicians are in agreement with the attorneys as they estimate that within a few years' time hundreds of the devices will fail causing revision surgery to become necessary.

Physicians who have already performed exploratory surgeries to determine the cause of their patients' problems have discovered that many of the cups have loosened a great deal over time. In fact, one doctor reported that he found a cup that had loosened so much that it popped from its socket when he touched it. In other patients surgeons have found that the device has actually migrated a short distance within the body. Zimmer cites the success of the cup in Europe as basis for its belief that there is nothing defective about the device, but physicians believe that almost 6% of all Durom Cups will fail and need revision surgery within the next couple of years.

Stockholders in Zimmer stocks feel that the company did not pull the product from the market quickly enough causing additional problems for patients. With this feeling in mind, stockholders filed a class action lawsuit in Indiana seeking damages for those who invested in company stocks between January and July, 2008. These stockholders and their attorneys believe that Zimmer should have suspended sales before January 22, 2008 when a large number of problems began to surface.

Zimmer still pleads its case that its Durom Cup is not to blame for the surgical failures in the United States. Instead they contend that physicians did not receive adequate training for doing the procedure. Even so, in October, 2008, Zimmer announced that it had reserved $47.5 million to pay claims won in lawsuits against it. In July it was shown that the failure rate of cup implants could be as high as 5.7%. Zimmer states that this money is not being reserved for all patients and revisions but only for "revisions associated with surgeries that predate the company's voluntary suspension and which also occur within two years of the original surgery date." The resolution of this problem remains to be seen.

About the Author:

No comments:

Post a Comment