Zimmer Lawsuit Filed Over Failed Durom Cup Hip Replacement

A lawsuit was filed last week in Florida by a man whose Zimmer Durom Cup failed only a few months after his hip replacement surgery. The complaint alleges that Zimmer manufactured and sold a defective hip resurfacing component, which was unreasonably dangerous and prone to loosen or fail.

The Zimmer lawsuit was filed by Alan Perlmutter and his wife on September 26, 2008, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

When Perlmutter underwent hip replacement surgery on June 6, 2006, he was implanted with a Zimmer Durom Hip Resurfacing System by his surgeon at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Although he expected to receive a newer type of hip replacement part that was supposed to provide a life without pain, he started to develop severe and debilitating pain roughly three months after his hip surgery. He was eventually told by his orthopedic surgeon that his increasing pain and immobility were caused by a loosening of the Zimmer Durom system.

The lawsuit indicates that the Zimmer Durom Cup failure required Perlmutter to undergo a complicated and extensive hip surgery on September 23, 2008, to replace the implant.

The Zimmer Durom Acetabular Component was approved in the United States in 2006. Unlike traditional artificial hip parts, the Durom system contains a single piece of material that is supposed to address some of the more common problems with hip replacements, such as wear of the bearing, limited range of motion and instability.

Earlier this year, a growing number of doctors began to report problems with the Zimmer Durom system, including a high number of patients who required additional surgery to revise the hip replacement. After initially denying that there were any problems with their hip resurfacing system, Zimmer announced in July 2008 that they were halting the sales of the Durom Cup.

According to Zimmer’s own investigation of patient outcomes in the United States, some clinics have experienced Durom Cup hip replacement failures at a rate of 5.7%.

Zimmer stopped selling the hip implant so that they could update the warning label and develop better instructions for physicians about specific surgical techniques that are needed to reduce the risk of failures associated with the Durom Cup implant. They have recently begun making the Zimmer Durom Cup available again to doctors who complete a new on-line training program.

The Zimmer lawsuit filed by Perlmutter alleges that the Durom Cup implanted during his hip replacement was defectively designed, such that it was unreasonably dangerous for its intended use. He also alleges that the Zimmer failed to provide information about the risk of the hip replacement failing, even though that information was known or should have been known by the manufacturer.

The complaint alleges that the failure to properly warn and instruct surgeons about the system’s use was done “for purposes of increasing sales and enhancing profits” for Zimmer.