A metal-on-metal hip replacement lawsuit was filed by Michigan resident Mark Halstead in June against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. after his hip replacement device allegedly failed and caused him injury and severe pain.

Halstead was 45 years old when he had his hip replacement surgery with the metal-on-metal Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System in his right hip on Jan. 23, 2012.

According to the hip implant lawsuit, the Pinnacle led to “friction and wear between the cobalt-chromium metal head and cobalt-chromium metal liner [which] caused toxic cobalt-chromium metal ions and particles to be released into the injured Plaintiff’s blood, tissue and bone surrounding the implant.”

As a result, Halstead was reportedly forced to undergo hip revision surgery to correct the problems he was experiencing, a procedure considered risky and painful, but ultimately necessary because of the defective hip replacement product.

In light of the pain and suffering Halstead reportedly experienced and will continue to experience in the future, Halstead has brought charges of negligence, product liability, breach of warranty, misrepresentation, fraud, and violation of consumer protection laws against DePuy, according to his DePuy hip implant lawsuit.

Halstead is seeking economic and non-economic compensation for losses incurred due to medical expenses, pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, as well as punitive damages and attorney’s fees from DePuy.

DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. is a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary acquired in 1998. DePuy specializes in orthopaedic and neurosurgery products that are widely used by hospitals and clinics nationally. Currently, DePuy is facing more than 11,000 metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuits for various models of their hip replacement systems, including ASR Acetabular Cup System and most recently the Pinnacle Acetabular Cup.

Background on Pinnacle Acetabular Cup

The Pinnacle Acetabular Cup hip replacement system is a metal-on-metal hip implant designed and sold by DePuy Orthopaedics since 2001. It was marketed as a product that provides pain relief and smooth range of motion for damaged and diseased hip joints due to fracture, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or avascular necrosis.

In advertising and marketing for the Pinnacle device, DePuy described their hip implant as “'[u]niquely designed to meet the demands of active patients like you –and help reduce pain,’ and advertised it with pictures of a young woman trying on sneakers in an athletic shoe store.”

According to the hip replacement lawsuit, DePuy has sold 150,000 Pinnacle Acetabular Cup Systems since 2001, and of those sold, 99 percent of Pinnacle hip product components are still in use.

However, it has been reported that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has received 1,300 reports of adverse hip implant side effects and complications related to the Pinnacle hip implant. It has been alleged that before 2006, DePuy was aware of the high failure rate of their Pinnacle device and of the possibility of a patient developing metallosis, biological toxicity, and other side effects if and when the hip implant failed.