Stryker LFIT V40 Femoral Head Lawsuit

Why Do Patients Need Hip Implants?

Hip implants or hip replacement occurs when pain surrounding the hip becomes unbearable for daily life. Usually, this pain is caused by arthritis or damage to the hip over an individual’s lifetime due to extreme sports, previous injuries, or lack of necessary nutrition.

Several conditions that cause hip implantation surgery include:

• Osteonecrosis
• Osteoarthritis 
• Rheumatoid arthritis 

All of the above conditions can cause a lower quality of life. Daily occurrences of walking trouble, inability to sleep, and persistent hip pain can be detrimental to the ability to enjoy normal activities with friends or family. While many with hip issues usually rely on pain medication to get through their normal activities, sometimes the pain may become so severe that medication no longer assists with the lingering inflammation. At this point, healthcare providers would deem surgery at the hip necessary to help the patients continue being active. Surgery in itself contains risks for all patients, but when the device meant to help patients continues or worsens their health condition, the risk can become greater than the reward of a supposed increased range of hip motion. 

What Is Taper Lock Failure?

Taper lock failure occurs when the femoral head at the hip joint loosens over time, causing the hip implant device to fail. As the hip device compromises, metal friction happens between the femoral head and the femoral ball. When the metal debris corrodes during taper lock failure, the toxic metal substances are released into the body. As the toxic metals are released, this can cause infections such as metallosis. While the original purpose of the LFIT V40 hip implant manufacturing was to mimic the normal hip joins to provide stability, when the device faults those socket and ball components result in the risk of injury or broken bones.

What Are the Side Effects of Taper Lock Failure?

Taper lock failure may also result in:

• Damage to soft tissue
• Fractures of the hip
• Bones loss
• Minimal range of hip motion
• Clicking and or popping around the implant
• Dislocation
• Pain
• Inflammation
• Hip replacement revision surgery

The creation of the taper lock system was supposed to enable a permanent junction at the hip that helps patients have secure device placement. However, the metal rod implanted near the femur has continued to cause patients long-term problems.

What Is Metallosis?

Metallosis is when metal debris buildup in the body causes metal poisoning in the surrounding tissue and organs. Similar to other hip-related lawsuits, taper lock failure can cause metallosis in many patients in the joints and tissues near the hip implant. When metal-on-metal friction occurs, the toxic metals are slowly released into the body as recovering patients start implementing movement again into their daily lives. This mental-on-metal corrosion is high risk and extremely harmful to the body. 

How Does the Stryker LFIT V40 Cause Metalossis?

Specifically, the Stryker LFIT V40 is constructed with titanium, cobalt, and chromium to create an advanced technological alloy. These metals are meant to create a durable product that lasts the rest of a patient’s lifetime. However, as the metal ions from the LFIT V40 rub against one another, it leads to illness and poisoning due to the destruction of tissues. This destruction, called metallosis, affects circulation across the body through a series of localized infections in the spaces of the joints.

Why Are People Filing Hip Implant Lawsuits?

Patients across the Western global network in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom are filing lawsuits for their hip implants due to their suffering both physically and financially.

The patients filing complaints are asking for financial compensation due to reasons including: 

• Ongoing hip pain 
• Lost income 
• Revision surgery expenses
• Chronic illness & other physical damage 

Plaintiff’s hip implant surgery using the Stryker LFIT V40 has caused damages that are recognizable in legal court systems. As the company Stryker Orthopaedics is at fault, in most cases, patients have the opportunity to receive payment for the suffering they’ve incurred from the metal-on-metal implant corrosion. 

Is There a Stryker LFIT V40 Recall?

In August of 2016, the Stryker LFIT V40 was recalled in the United States. Physicians were notified of the recall alert announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA did not publicly announce the recall until later in November 2016. However, the physicians, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals were informed of the taper lock failure of the femoral head on the device. Other hip implant device constructions have also been recalled in the United States due to instances of metallosis or chronic pain in affected patients. While the Stryker LFIT V40 was originally manufactured in 2011, it was not until years later and many patient surgeries later that the recall was made official by the FDA.  

What LFIT V40 Lawsuits Are There?

There are still 581 lawsuits regarding the LFIT V40 complaints existing in the Minnesota courts as of 2022. These lawsuits have not been finalized and are still pending in federal court. Previous lawsuits existed against Stryker in 2016 from the extreme complications patients faced from the hip implant device. Well over 42,000 components of the device were recalled after the patients sued Stryker for the damages incurred from the device. As these LFIT V40 lawsuits continue, Stryker also has other lawsuits occurring from several other of their hip implant 

What LFIT V40 Lawsuit Settlements Have There Been?

While the LFIT V40 was recalled in 2016, it was not until November of 2018 that Stryker and the plaintiffs settled. The New Jersey multicounty litigation (MDL) confirmed the federal settlement, however, the agreement has remained confidential between the affected parties. Stryker as a company has been punished monetarily since the court awarded punitive damages due to the revision surgeries and metal toxicity. The confirmed settlements include the Massachusetts and New Jersey courts, but due to the private nature of the settlement, the final and ongoing costs are unknown to the public. 

Who Qualifies for a Stryker Hip Implant Lawsuit?

A hip implant patient may qualify for compensation if they have incurred pain or financial stress due to the Stryker LFIT V40 metal-on-metal hip device.

Those who may qualify for a legal settlement with Stryker may have experienced a variety of problems including but not limited to:

• Dislocation
• Mobility impairment
• Revision surgery
• Metallosis
• Swelling and inflammation
• Loosening of the implant
• Wage loss
• Increased medical expenses
• Fractures surrounding the implant

If you have undergone hip replacement surgery with the LFIT V40 femoral head device or have needed revision surgery due to ongoing complications you may be eligible to receive compensation for the suffering that occurred at the hands of Stryker Orthopaedics. To confirm if you are eligible, please speak directly with a certified attorney.

How Do I Find a Stryker Hip Implant Attorney?

For a free legal consultation regarding Stryker cases, contact Seeger Weiss for further information involving your case. All hip implant consultations are free until your settlement against Stryker Orthopaedics is finalized and successful under the U.S. court of law and its administrators.