Zimmer Places Blame On Doctors for Hip Failures

Since August 19, 2008, Zimmer has been offering web-based training to surgeons to highlight important aspects of the Durom Cup design, pre-operative planning that is necessary and detailed instructions on special surgical techniques that are required. They have indicated that they will start making the Zimmer Durom Hip Cup available to doctors after they complete the internet training. Zimmer allowed approximately 12,000 people in the United States to receive their Durom Cup, even though they knew or should have known that doctors were not provided with adequate warnings and instructions about the surgical techniques required to avoid failure of the hip replacement parts. According to Zimmer’s own estimates, some doctors experienced Zimmer hip implant failure rates as high as 5.7% with the Durom Cup.

In April 2008, prominent Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Larry Dorr, notified members of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons about the Zimmer Durom Cup problems he was encountering with patients who received the component. Problems such as loosing of the components and a higher than expected rate of revisions were identified by Dr. Dorr. After initially dismissing Dr. Dorr's report of problems, Zimmer agreed to initiate an investigation of the Durom Cup problems in May 2008. After reviewing data from over 3,100 cases, Zimmer concluded that the technology and design parameters of the Durom Cup require a higher degree of precision than was common in hip replacement surgical techniques in the United States. Those suffering from Zimmer hip failure are advised to contact an experienced lawyer to ensure proper representation in filing a Zimmer hip lawsuit.

Though Zimmer has maintained that this high failure rate is caused by surgeon error, it pulled the replacement from the market in July 2008 after its own internal study found that 8 percent of the devices needed revision in two years. This has left many doctors and Zimmer hip lawyers to believe the issue is with the replacement. With two years since the recall, and thousands of lawsuits filed, the number of Zimmer Hip failures has only risen and the effects of those failures have only become more detrimental.