Wright Medical Dynasty Hip Lawsuit Filed Over Failure of Metal-on-Metal Implant

According to allegations raised in a hip replacement lawsuit filed against Wright Medical, the metal-on-metal design of the Dynasty Total Hip System poses a risk of fretting and corrosion, which can cause the implant to fail prematurely.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Patricia Powell in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on May 8, indicating that Wright’s Dynasty hip implant was unreasonably dangerous and defective, causing her to require additional surgery less than seven years after undergoing joint replacement surgery.

Powell indicates that a Wright Dynasty metal-on-metal (MoM) hip was implanted during a total hip arthroplasty in December 2009. However, after experiencing pain and complications, she had to undergo revision surgery in May 2016, to remove the failed implant.

The lawsuit accuses Wright Medical of marketing and distributing an unreasonably dangerous product, which the company knew or should have known would be prone to fail and could cause injuries, including pain, metal ion blood poisoning, and the need for revision surgery.

“Plaintiff Powell’s Revision Surgery was necessary because the Device failed due to adverse tissue reaction to metal debris, corrosion and resultant metal ions,” the lawsuit states. “On or about May 11, 2016, it was discovered that the Device failed due to metal debris, corrosion and resultant metal ions, due to the MoM design between the articulating surfaces, causing continuing and otherwise irreversible physical injury to Plaintiff Powell.”

Powell indicates the Wright Dynasty hip failure could have been avoided or limited if the manufacturer had not concealed the risk of problems with the Wright Dynasty Total Hip System.

The manufacturer has faced similar claims in other product liability lawsuits filed over design problems with certain metal-on-metal hip implants sold in recent years, which may release of microscopic metallic debris as the parts rub against each other, resulting in tissue damage, metal blood poisoning and early implant failure.

In November 2016, the manufacturer announced a Wright hip settlement that resolved certain cases involving revision surgery with a Conserve, Dynasty or Lineage metal-on-metal implant, but continues to face the risk of additional claims brought by individuals who subsequently experienced failure of their hip replacement.