Artificial Hip Recipients Sue
Tuesday, June 5th, 2001 Legislation & Regulation Liability Litigation Property SubrogationAlleging that a lubricant used in the manufacture of Sulzer Medica artificial hips can cause infection or a loosening of the joint, about 20 recipients of the implants have filed suit against Sulzer Orthopedics and Sous New England, subsidiaries of the Swiss drug maker. The plaintiffs, who are seeking damages related to their receipt of “dangerous and defective hip implants,” cite problems such as leg pain, an inability to walk on the leg, and infection. The hip replacements have been implanted into about 20,000 patients, according to Robert Bonsignore, an attorney in Medford, Mass., who filed suit in Middlesex Superior Court. In an action applying to hip implants sold mostly in the U.S. after October 1999, with a few shipments dating back to July 1997, Sulzer Orthopedics had voluntarily recalled shells for its hip implants because of potential loosening of the shells.
