PajMon Information Blog

Posts Tagged ‘zimmer durom’

In 2006 Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implants were approved for use in the United States. Within less than 2 years, more than 12,000 patients were functioning using a Durom Cup as a replacement device for a defective hip joint. Although these implants had been used for 3 years in Europe prior to being approved in the U.S. and had exhibited a high rate of success, in the U.S. patients started developing problems, some almost immediately after surgery. Their doctors, looking for reasons why the implants failed, decided that the Durom Cup was a defective device.

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.

People who own Zimmer stock have come to believe that the company was negligent in waiting until July, 2008 to pull the product off the American market. They and their attorneys feel it should have been pulled prior to January 22, 2008. Because of this belief, stockholders in Indiana have filed a class action lawsuit asking that damages be paid to those investors who bought stock between the January date and July, 2008 when the problem was announced and the product taken from the market.

Zimmer is still taking the position that its product is not defective. Instead they believe that the inadequate training given to physicians prior to performing the procedure is to blame. With this in mind, Zimmer announced in October, 2008 that it would be setting aside $47.5 million in order to pay off lawsuits resulting from the surgical failures referring to a July report which said that as much as 5.7% of the surgeries could require revision. This fund has been earmarked to pay for “revisions associated with surgeries that predate the company’s voluntary suspension and which also occur within two years of the original surgery date.

In 2006 Zimmer Holdings, the world’s largest manufacturer of orthopedic devices, introduced the Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implant in the United States. Since that time, thousands of implants have been surgically inserted into American patients. The device had been used successfully in Europe since 2003 before being tried in the U.S. Unfortunately, its road to success has been far bumpier in the U.S. than it has been in Europe, and U.S. sales have been put on hold.

Physicians have made claims that the Zimmer Cup is defective, a fact that they say has led to hundreds of patients who are now facing replacement surgery within the next few years. Zimmer, however, holds that there is nothing wrong with their implant. Instead, they claim the problem lies in the methods surgeons have been using to do the implants. They say that the surgeons did not receive the training they needed prior to doing implant surgeries, and therefore, the implants have failed. Although Zimmer has not accepted responsibility for the problem, it did voluntarily suspend sales of the device in the United States until such time as surgeons can receive the training they need to perform successful implants.

Most U.S. states have laws giving compensation to patients who suffer from the effects of defective orthopedic devices and surgeries. The laws say that patients who sustain pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost wages due to these defects are entitled to be well compensated for everything they’ve endured if the device itself proves to be faulty. Naturally, hundreds of people whose lives have been destroyed by hip implant problems have filed lawsuits against Zimmer and the physicians who performed the operations. Both sides claim that the other side is to blame, and so the battle goes.

Hip replacement surgeries aren’t a new idea. In fact, as early as 1891 there is written reference to attempts to replace the femoral head using ivory devices. It wasn’t until 1960, however, that the Burmese surgeon, Dr. San Baw, started replacing broken hip bones with ivory. Within the next 20 years Dr. Baw claimed a success rate of 88% on the more than 300 replacement surgeries that he performed.

During the 1970s a man named John Charnley was a pioneer in the development of a 3-part artificial hip joint. This innovative device, or some adaptation of it, was then used by surgeons for over 20 years. By 2003 Zimmer Holdings had introduced its Durom Cup implant in Europe, and it soon came to be known as the best implant on the market.

While hip replacement surgery and the replacement devices used have improved remarkably from the early years, the operation is still far from foolproof. The most common problem when using a Zimmer Durom Cup implant is that it is somewhat smaller than the original human joint and can slip out of the socket, especially if it isn’t implanted correctly. Implants are also prone to loosening over time and infections can set in. In spite of these risks, doctors still recommend the surgery for people with seriously damaged hip joints.

Zimmer can only hope to win the lawsuits that have been filed against it and be able to market their Durom Cup more successfully in the U.S. in the future. They still believe that their device can make a positive difference in the lives of many people if used correctly.