The Zimmer Company (manufacturer of medical devices) announced that sales of the Zimmer Durom Cup hip replacement component would be suspended in July 2008 after receiving reports from physicians in various parts of the United States that there is a substantially higher need for revisions and further hip surgery after placement of the Zimmer Durom Cup.
Defective medical device attorneys all over the country are currently reviewing potential Zimmer hip replacement lawsuits for people who have the Zimmer cup and have experienced serious problems. Many of the patients started noticing problems around three months following placement of the cup. Many of these victims needed additional surgeries or surgical revisions following implantation.
The Zimmer Durom Cup was approved in the United States in 2006 for use during total hip replacement, or total hip arthroplasty. At the time of this writing (December 2008), approximately 12,000 Americans have the Durom Cup implanted in their bodies.
Earlier Problems
In April 2008, Dr. Lawrence D. Dorr, an orthopedic surgeon who is currently the medical director of the Dorr Institute for Arthritis Research and Education in California, sent a letter the manufacturer of hip replacement stating that he found that 14 of the 165 Durom hip replacement systems implanted at his own clinic required additional surgery within just two years of the hip replacement surgery. That is a staggering number of implantations gone bad.
Dr. Dorr’s concerns, however, fell on deaf ears initially. In fact, Zimmer accused Dr. Dorr of not performing the surgery correctly. Ironically, Dr. Dorr was actually the Zimmer company’s consultant on this hip replacement device. In his career, Dr. Dorr has performed over five thousand hip replacement surgeries over several decades.
Sales Suspended
Finally, Zimmer reps have asked doctors to stop implanting the Durom Cups immediately but still declaring the problems with the hip implant may be due to doctors not using the proper surgical technique when implanting the cup. The company is correcting the product’s labeling to provide more detailed instructions and will also implement surgical training programs in the U.S. to teach doctors how to properly implant the Durom Cup.
Patients who have received the Zimmer Durom Cup are asked to contact their doctor immediately if they have experienced pain more than three months after surgery.
If you or a loved one has suffered after implantation of the Zimmer Durom cup, you may have a valid legal claim. Please contact a product liability attorney in your area today to learn more.
