A man
from Longview, Texas filed a product liability lawsuit against the manufacturer
of a knee replacement product that has been allegedly been found to loosen in
patients and require replacement surgery. Earlier this month, the U.S. Judicial
Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered that all Zimmer Nexgen Knee implant
lawsuits be consolidated and transferred to U.S. District Court in Illinois.
The Zimmer lawsuits involved in the Zimmer NexGen CR-Flex femoral components, Zimmer
NexGen MIS Tibial components or Zimmer NexGen LPS-Flex femoral components.
Waterston said in that in June 2008 he had a knee replacement surgery in which
a Zimmer NexGen Knee was implanted. He claims that shortly after the surgery he
began to experience severe and debilitating pain.
Waterston
claims he was advised that implant was “loosening” and had a second surgery in
September 2009 to replace the Zimmer NexGen Knee. The long list of charges by
the defendant include misleading health care professionals and the public into
believing that the Zimmer NexGen Knee was safe and effective for use in knee
replacement surgery, engaging in deceptive, misleading and unconscionable
promotional or sales methods to convince health care professionals to utilize
the product even though they knew the product was unreasonable unsafe, failing
to warn health care professionals and the public about the safety risks of the
product.
All of the lawsuits in the
Zimmer NexGen MDL involve allegations that plaintiffs experienced problems
following knee replacement surgery as a result of design defects with certain
Zimmer NexGen components. Plaintiffs claim to have suffered catastrophic
implant failures, often resulting in the need for Zimmer revision surgery to remove or
replace the implants because they failed far in advance of their projected
lifespan. Zimmer allegedly downplayed and understated the risk of Zimmer NexGen
knee problems. Zimmer obtained approval for the NexGen knee replacement
components through the FDA’s controversial 510(k) approval process, which is a
fast-track to market approval that requires that you prove that the device you
are releasing is “substantially equivalent” to one already on the market. The Zimmer NexGen knee litigation will
be centralized before Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer for coordinated handling.
