DePuy Pinnacle Lawsuits Move Forward, as Bernstein Liebhard LLP Notes New FDA Plan for Metal-on-Metal Hip Study
New York, New York (PRWEB) August 14, 2013 -- As DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits (http://www.depuypinnacle-lawsuit.com/) continue to move forward in courts around the country, Bernstein Liebhard LLP notes that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new study to investigate the relationship between volumetric wear and corrosion of metal-on-metal hips and poor clinical outcomes. According to an agency posting on FBO.gov, the study will employ the corrosion testing protocol established by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to analyze 250 explanted all-metal hips. Once launched, the study is expected to take about two years to complete.*
“Our Firm is representing hundreds of people implanted with metal-on-metal hips, including clients in Pinnacle hip lawsuits, all of whom allegedly suffered serious and painful injuries due to metal debris shed as result of wear and corrosion. We certainly feel that this is an issue that merits further study,” says Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationwide law firm representing the victims of defective drugs and medical devices. The Firm continues to offer free legal evaluations to alleged victims of serious complications associated with metal-on-metal hip implants.
Pinnacle Hip Lawsuits
Metal-on-metal hips, like the all-metal version of the Pinnacle device that utilizes the Ultamet liner, consist of a metal ball and cup. The FDA has been investigating this class of artificial hips since February 2011, amid concerns that they can shed dangerous amounts of metal debris in patients, leading to premature device failure, metallosis and other adverse local tissue reactions. In January 2013, the FDA advised all patients fitted with metal-on-metal hips to undergo metal ion testing if they were experiencing signs or symptoms of device failure. The agency has also proposed new rules that would subject all-metal hips to greater regulatory scrutiny.
Court documents indicate that more than 4,600 DePuy Pinnacle lawsuits involving the all-metal version of the device have been filed in a federal multidistrict litigation now underway in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. Jeffrey S. Grand, a partner with Bernstein Liebhard LLP, serves on the litigation’s Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. All of the Pinnacle hip lawsuits filed in the proceeding claim that plaintiffs suffered serious complications due to the device’s propensity to shed dangerous amounts of metal ions into the tissue surrounding the implant, as well as the blood stream. The litigation’s first bellwether trials are scheduled to begin in September 2014. (In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. Pinnacle Hip Implant Product Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2244)
On May 17th Bloomberg.com reported that DePuy Orthopedics had decided to phase out sales of metal-on-metal hip implants, including the all-metal Pinnacle, in part due to recent FDA actions. Among other things, the regulations proposed by the FDA in January would require companies that currently market metal-on-metal hips to conduct post-market safety studies of their products in order to keep selling them.**
Victims of metallosis, premature device failure and other serious complications allegedly associated with the metal-on-metal DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement may be entitled to compensation for their medical care, pain and suffering, and other damages. Learn More about filing a Pinnacle hip lawsuit at Bernstein Liebhard LLP's website. To arrange for a free, no obligation legal review of your case, please call 800-511-5092 today.
*fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=e7abc1a639352bb1fbf334c99e9e3958&tab=core&_cview=0; fbo.gov, July 23, 2013
**bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/j-j-will-stop-sales-of-metal-on-metal-hip-replacements.html, Bloomberg.com, May 17, 2013
About Bernstein Liebhard LLP
Bernstein Liebhard LLP is a New York-based law firm exclusively representing injured persons in complex individual and class action lawsuits nationwide since 1993, including those who have been harmed by dangerous drugs, defective medical devices and consumer products. The firm has been named by The National Law Journal to the “Plaintiffs’ Hot List,” recognizing the top plaintiffs’ firms in the country, for
the past 10 consecutive years.
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ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. © 2013 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, 800-511-5092. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.
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Contact Information:
Felecia L. Stern, Esq.
Bernstein Liebhard LLP
info(at)consumerinjurylawyers(dot)com
http://www.depuypinnacle-lawsuit.com/
Felecia L. Stern, DePuy Pinnacle Lawsuit Information Center, http://www.depuypinnacle-lawsuit.com/, 800-511-5092, [email protected]
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