Sommers Schwartz attorney Robert Sickels filed a medical malpractice suit on behalf of a woman who underwent hip replacement surgery using a Stryker hip device that caused her to suffer chronic pain and metallosis as well as the eventual surgical removal of the defective hip implant components.

According to the complaint, the defendant orthopedic surgeon performed a left total hip arthroplasty on the plaintiff in 2013. A Stryker hip replacement system was implanted, the components of which are known throughout the orthopedic community to cause fretting, corrosion, and metallosis. These conditions, in turn, can lead to cardiovascular, neurological, renal, and thyroid problems, as well as the destruction of soft tissue, muscle, and bone, and the need for costly and painful revision surgery.

After the operation, the plaintiff complained to the defendants on numerous occasions about persistent left hip pain. Each time, she was given pain medication, advised that she had bursitis, and told to do hip exercises. Beginning in the fall of 2016, the plaintiff suffered five cardiac events that required hospitalization, but tests failed to show any coronary artery disease or a primary rhythm disorder.

Due to her chronic pain, the plaintiff’s hip was re-evaluated in 2018, at which time tests showed that she had elevated chromium and cobalt levels in her blood, indicating metallosis. The plaintiff then went to another doctor who performed revision surgery to remove the Stryker implant that had corroded and caused necrosis in the surrounding tissues. The plaintiff later underwent a second hip revision surgery to implant all-new hip components.

The lawsuit claimed that as a result of the defendants’ negligence, the plaintiff continues to suffer pain, limitations, disability, and immobility, and underwent additional surgeries that could have been avoided. She is now dependent on others for her care and daily needs.