Durom Cup Hip Implant ALERT
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Durom Backgrounder on Status
Durom Press Release Excerpt
Zimmer Durom Surgeon Letter
The Texas Law Firm of Carabin & Shaw is now offering free case evaluations for those individuals that may have a defective Durom Cup Hip Implant and are now experiencing pain, discomfort or other health issues or concerns. It is important for all individuals that have a Durom Cup Hip Implant, to take notice that in July of 2008, Zimmer Holdings announced it was suspending sales of the Durom Cup Hip Implant Component due to a high number of patient complaints and a unusually high number of reported failures with the Hip Implant. If you or a loved one has been injured by this defective medical device, we urge you to pick up the phone and contact our Law Firm as soon as possible to discuss your Hip Implant.
The Durom Cup has been implanted in over 12,000 patients since it was first sold in the United States in 2006. The Durom Acetabular Component is a monoblock cup made of cobal chromium alloy, which is made from a single piece of material. It is designed for use in combination with Zimmer’s Metasul Metal-on-Metal Tribological Solution LDH (Large Diameter Heads). The Durom Cup was designed for use in young, active patients who are likely to outlive a conventional hip prosthesis. Unfortunately, we believe that those patients that have received this defective device begin experiencing crippling pain following surgery, leaving them more disabled than they had been before their hip replacement. It is estimated that a large percentage of patients receiving the Durom Cup may need to undergo additional surgery to have this defective medical component replaced.
Zimmer Ignored Durom Cup Complaints
The issues, concerns and problems with the Durom Cup hip implant first became apparent in April 2008, when Los Angeles Surgeon Dr. Lawrence Dorr publicly warned other Orthopedists about Cup failures his patients were experiencing. According to Dr. Dorr - who was also a highly paid consultant for Zimmer - months after routine hip replacements, patients who had expected to live without pain were in agony. After informing colleagues in a professional society about his experience with the Durom Cup, Dr. Dorr heard from several other doctors who reported similar problems. The Durom Cup hip implant injury lawyers at our firm have also heard from numerous people about the crippling pain they experienced following their implantation with this defective device.
According to Dr. Dorr and other physicians, x-rays of patients who received defective Durom Cups showed that the socket was separating from bone, rather than fusing with it. For patients, who had been told their new hips might last 15 to 20 years, it meant agony as the metal cup moved around in the hip socket and rubbed against bone. Such crippling injuries are devastating, and many Durom cup recipients reported that they were in much worse shape after their surgery than before. In early 2008, Dr. Dorr reported his concerns about the Durom Cup to executives at Zimmer. Shockingly, his complaints fell on deaf ears. Zimmer actually had the audacity to blame Dr. Dorr's surgical techniques for the problems his patients experienced. At the time, Zimmer did nothing to address his concerns.
It is seems odd that Zimmer would blame Dr. Dorr's skills for the Dorum Cup problems his patients experienced, given that the surgeon was a company consultant. What's more, Dr. Dorr is a veteran of more than 5,000 hip replacement surgeries. At 67, he has been performing these operations for decades. Zimmer's attempts to blame Dr. Dorr for failures caused by its defective device indicate that the company was more interested in protecting its own bottom line than patient well-being. It is the intention of our Durom Cup hip implant lawyers to hold Zimmer accountable for this negligence.
Zimmer Finally Suspends Sales of Durom Cup
In April 2008, after being rebuffed by Zimmer, Dr. Dorr took his concerns to the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons. In late May, Zimmer finally informed surgeons that it was investigating Dr. Dorr’s complaint but that it did not suspend sales, as the doctor had recommended. While it investigated complaints, roughly 1300 more patients were implanted with the Durom Cup in the U.S. According to Zimmer's own investigation, some clinics using the Durom Cup experienced failure rates as high as 5.7%. In spite of the evidence that something was amiss with the design of the Durom Cup, Zimmer is still blaming doctors for its high failure rate. We find it difficult to believe that so many surgeons could be making the very same mistakes that have led to hundreds of similar patient complaints and injuries.
Despite its contention that the Durom Cup implant is safe, Zimmer has stopped marketing the device in the U.S. The company has also stopped the enrollment of an investigational clinical trial evaluating Durom in hip resurfacing procedures. Zimmer, however, will not give up on the Durom Cup. The company plans to update the labeling for the device, and reintroduce to the U.S. market by 2009.
Help for Durom Cup Hip Implant Victims
If you or a loved one has experienced crippling pain or injury following implantation with the Zimmer Durom Cup hip implant component, you have valuable legal rights. Please fill out our online to discuss your case or call us Toll Free at 1-800-862-1260. Call our Law Firm today, we can help.