DePuy Prodigy Stem Lawsuit Alleges Hip Implant Is Defective

Johnson & Johnson faces a product liability lawsuit over its DePuy Prodigy femoral stem, indicating that the hip implant was defectively designed and caused a woman to experience complications that required the device to be surgically removed.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Joan Conboy Miller in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Northern Carolina on February 12, naming Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy subsidiary as defendants.

Miller indicates that she underwent left-side total hip replacement surgery in October 2006, at which time she received a DePuy Prodigy Stem, lined to a DePuy Pinnacle Acetabular Cup and other components. As a result of problems with the DePuy Prodigy stem, Miller indicates that she ended up undergoing revision surgery in February 2013, although the device was expected to last much longer.

The lawsuit indicates that the stem failed because it was not manufactured in accordance with Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations. Miller also claims that the true DePuy Prodigy failure rates are higher than those the manufacturer has reported to the FDA.

“DePuy received numerous reports of failures of Prodigy stems prior to the date of Plaintiff’s implant and revision similar to the failure alleged by Plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. “At the same time, there were and are safer alternative artificial hip products readily available in the marketplace from other manufacturers which do not have elevated failure rates.”

The lawsuit presents claims against the medical device manufacturers for strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, and failure to warn, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.

The manufacturer also faces thousands of DePuy Pinnacle hip lawsuits filed in courts throughout the United States, over problems linked to the metal-on-metal configuration of the artificial hip system. Plaintiffs allege that as the metal parts rub against each other, microscopic metal debris may be released into the body, increasing the risk of loosening and failure within a few years after the implant.

Given the similar allegations raised in the cases, all DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits are centralized in the Northern District of Texas before U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade to reduce duplicative discovery into common issues in the cases, avoid conflicting rulings from different courts and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.