The hip implants known as the metal-on-metal hip replacements have left a sad trail of destruction in the wake of their recent adoption by some orthopedic surgeons. As the FDA has concluded, these metal-on-metal devices are subject not only to early failure, but also expose patients to high levels of heavy metals in their blood. Many hip replacement patients who have taken tests to determine the levels of cobalt and chromium in their blood are being advised that that they need a total revision of of their hip implant.
Many lawsuits have been filed regarding these hip implants, such as the so-called Stryker Rejuvenate hip replacement system, and these lawsuits are being consolidated into single federal court actions. Each of these consolidated actions is known as a “Multi-District Litigation” (MDL) and one such MDL has indeed been initiated for the the Stryker hip implant that uses a metal-on-metal ball and socket connection. Judge Donovan Frank of the United States District Court for Minnesota has recently appointed leadership for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee in the Stryker Hip MDL (MDL No. 13-2441) and included in this appointment is Florida attorney Ben Gordon of the well-known firm Levin Papantonio, Thomas Mitchell Rafferty & Proctor, P.A. Many other distinguished and talented attorneys are included on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, among them Richard Schlueter of Atlanta, Doug Kreis of Pensacola, and Chris Hellums of Birmingham. Along with Ben Gordon, lead counsel members are Peter Flowers of Chicago, Annesley DeGaris of Birmingham, Wendy Fleishman of New York, Eric Kennedy of Cleveland and Genevieve Zimmerman of Minneapolis.
The ensuing phases of this litigation will focus on document production and witness depositions, leading to a possible jury trial.
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