Zimmer Durom Cup Lawsuits are Pending

Zimmer Durom Cup Hip Implants had been used successfully in Europe for 3 years prior to being approved for use in the United States in 2006. Less than two years later, the device had already been implanted in more than 12,000 American patients, and numerous problems with the implants were already beginning to surface. American doctors started searching for reasons the procedures had failed and pinpointed the cup as a defective product that was prone to problems.

In most U.S. states, laws are in place to help patients who suffer due to defective prosthetic devices. The laws are designed to compensate them for pain, medical expenses, and the loss of wages caused by their problems with orthopedic procedures resulting from a malfunction of a prosthetic device. Zimmer, while not admitting to producing an inferior product based on its success rate in Europe, voluntarily pulled the cup from the U.S. markets in July, 2008 pending further investigation.

There are many websites on the Internet of attorneys who feel they can help patients file successful suits against Zimmer. Perform a search using the keywords "Zimmer Durom Cup Lawsuits" if you'd like to contact one of them. The number of failed implants is growing, and these attorneys who have researched the problem believe that patients have a good case against the company. Many physicians are in agreement with the attorneys as they estimate that within a few years' time hundreds of the devices will fail causing revision surgery to become necessary.

Doctors who have done further surgery to determine the cause of patient discomfort have found that the cups have loosened over time to the point where they just pop from the sockets at the slightest touch. Other patients have devices which have actually migrated a short distance in their bodies so they are no longer located exactly where they should be. Although Zimmer contends that the rate of failure of the Durom Cup is quite low, physicians believe that hundreds of them will fail and need revision within the next few years.

Stockholders in Zimmer stocks feel that the company did not pull the product from the market quickly enough causing additional problems for patients. With this feeling in mind, stockholders filed a class action lawsuit in Indiana seeking damages for those who invested in company stocks between January and July, 2008. These stockholders and their attorneys believe that Zimmer should have suspended sales before January 22, 2008 when a large number of problems began to surface.

Although Zimmer still contends that their product is not at fault in causing these problems, citing instead the failure of physicians to be properly trained in the correct methods of implanting them, they announced in October, 2008 that they had set aside $47.5 million to pay claims from the resulting lawsuits. This came after July numbers showed that the failure rate of the Durom Cup could be as high as 5.7%. Per the company the money they have earmarked for claim payment will be used for "revisions associated with surgeries that predate the company's voluntary suspension and which also occur within two years of the original surgery date.