In July 2008, Zimmer Holdings announced it was suspending sales of the Durom Cup hip implant component due to a high number of patient complaints.
The Durom Cup has been implanted in over 12,000 patients since it was first sold in the United States in 2006. The Durom Cup was designed for use in young, active patients who are likely to outlive a conventional hip prosthesis. Unfortunately, patients receiving this defective device often experienced crippling pain following surgery, leaving them more disabled than they had been before their hip replacement.
It wasn’t until former Zimmer consultant Dr. Lawrence Dorr blew the whistle on Zimmer and publicly warned other orthopedists about cup failures his patients. Dr. Dorr months warned orthopedists that recent hip replacement patients were in agony after routine hip replacements.
After informing colleagues in a professional society about his experience with the Durom Cup, Dr. Dorr heard from several other doctors who reported similar problems. The Durom Cup hip implant injury lawyers that work with Dangers to the Public also heard from numerous people about the crippling pain they experienced following their implantation with this defective device.
In early 2008, Dr. Dorr reported his concerns about the Durom Cup to executives at Zimmer. Shockingly, his complaints fell on deaf ears. Using standard big company defensive tactics, Zimmer blamed Dr. Dorr’s surgical techniques for the problems his patients experienced and nothing was done to warn the thousands of patients with implanted Durum Cups.
According to Zimmer’s own investigation, some clinics using the Durom Cup experienced failure rates as high as 5.7%. In spite of the evidence that something was amiss with the design of the Durom Cup, Zimmer is still blaming doctors for its high failure rate. The Durom Cup hip implant injury lawyers that work with Dangers to the Public find it difficult to believe that so many surgeons could be making the very same mistakes that have led to hundreds of similar patient complaints and injuries.
Despite its contention that the Durom Cup implant is safe, Zimmer has stopped marketing the device in the U.S. Zimmer, however, will not give up on the Durom Cup. The company plans to update the labeling for the device, and reintroduce to the U.S. market by 2009.
New safety concerns surrounding Zimmer knee implants
Dr. Richard A. Berger started complaining to Zimmer a while back that one of its artificial-knee models was failing prematurely, and he went public recently with a study that he says proves it. Zimmer told him that the problem was not the artificial knee, but his technique, and pointed to data overseas indicating that the knee was safe.
The model at issue, called the NexGen CR-Flex, is designed to provide a greater range of motion than the standard NexGen. Dr. Berger says that he gave the device, which is supposed to last about 15 years, to about 125 patients in 2005, the first full year he used it. But by early 2006, some X-rays showed lines where the implant met the thigh bone, an indication that the device was loose and had not fused completely. Patients could walk, but they were reporting pain, apparently a result of the loose joint.