Biomet manufactures metal-on-metal artificial implants for hip, knee and other joints. In 2010, their hip implants sales account for 12 percent of the market (about $312 million). Their M2a hip implant line has been the most widely used model, and the one with the most complaints. Plaintiff Angela Luker is the most recent victim to file a metal hip lawsuit over complications from the device.

Luker underwent a total right hip arthroplasty in 2003. Her orthopedic surgeon performed a total hip replacement with the Biomet M2a model implant, including the metal modular head and metal cup components, according to her metal hip implant lawsuit. The goal was to have a fully functioning hip again, with no pain, to continue to enjoy life. However, that reportedly wasn’t what happened.

After her surgery was completed, Luker started to experience “continual and repeated problems with the hip replacement which finally resulted in an additional hip surgery on July 12, 2011,” according to her metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuit. Her doctor found “marked erosion of the acetabulum and proximal femur resulting in a fracture of the greater trochanter along with pseudotumor formation extending distally into the leg musculature.” The Biomet hip implant complications resulted in “tissue damage, inflammatory action, bone loss, necrosis and a complete failure of the product,” the hip implant lawsuit says.

Issues with Metal Hip Implants

Metal-on-metal hip implants can cause a variety of complications, including metal poisoning. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) receives more than 1,000 adverse reports annually for hip implant issues. In the case of the Biomet M2a hip implant line of products, the FDA received hundreds of reports of problems, but the devices have not been recalled.

Luker alleges in her hip replacement lawsuit that at the time the Biomet hip implant was sold and inserted, it had a manufacturing defect that “factually and proximately caused an injury to the Plaintiff, that caused the need for another successive hip replacement surgery, constant pain and suffering, loss of mobility in the right leg and hip to an extent that Plaintiff walks with a severe limp, is in constant pain, and a permanent total disability occurred.”

She is not alone. A number of recipients of Biomet hips have filed hip implant lawsuits against the Indiana company for difficulties including pain in their hips, dislocation and soft tissue damage that required revision surgery. The problem, according to Luker’s metal hip lawsuit, lies in a manufacturing defect caused by an error in the manufacturing process. This “made this Biomet Implant unsafe for consumer use and it was therefore defective in that it caused the aforementioned problems as it corroded and failed.” Her Biomet lawsuit also alleges that the hip implant suffered from a design defect that makes the product risk far outweigh the benefits.

Luker says Biomet and its subsidiaries “failed to warn Plaintiff of its defective implant and breached express and implied warrants that arose from the manufacturing, distribution and sale of the Biomet Implant.” She’s suing for defective manufacturing, design defect, products liability, failure to warn, breach of warranties, and negligence.

The Biomet Hip Implant Lawsuit is Angela Luker v. Biomet, et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-01679-RLM-CAN, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.