Many American’s receive joint replacements each year. It is a way for elderly people, and for those who have overused their joints, to get more years of activity and enjoyment out of their lives. Because this procedure has become so routine, many do not question their doctors, or the manufacturers of their joint replacements about the quality of the technology that they are using. This has led to practices that can actually cause injury to you or your loved ones. If you know someone who has received a hip replacement, read on for this important information about the manufacturer Zimmer Durom.

There are many reasons that you or a loved one may have received a Zimmer Durom hip replacement, leading to danger for yourself of your loved ones. Hip replacement, also known as hip arthroplasty, is a common procedure in which the hip joint is removed and replaced by a prosthetic implant. This can be done for a variety of reasons, which include the pain of arthritis which was affecting the joint, damage to the joint over a long life, or the treatment of a hip fracture, an injury common to the elderly.

The modern hip replacement operation has been taking place since the 1970’s, which is why the idea may seem so commonplace to you. A hip replacement, such as those from Zimmer Durom, most commonly involves three separate pieces, designed to mimic how a natural knee joint would. They include a metal replacement for part of the femur. A component which allows for movement like the joint naturally would, and either bone cement or screws to hold the contraption in place.

For those who have had rip replacement, a large fear is needing the replacement replaced. It can cause serious complications in the ability to walk, and is a painful and long process. The Zimmer Durom was designed to avoid that, so that young hip replacement patients could have the one device for the rest of their lives. However, in one clinic, 12 percent of patients needed further replacement surgery in two years, which means the Zimmer Durom device does not work at all how it should. When this information was released, it caused an outcry among doctors.

Though Zimmer Durom has maintained that this high failure rate is caused by surgeon error, it pulled the replacement from the market in July 2008 after its own internal study found that 8 percent of the devices needed revision in two years. This has let many doctors and lawyers to believe the issue is with the replacement.

If you or someone you know has had a hip replacement surgery in the last several years, ask your doctor if it was a Zimmer Durom. If it was, even if you have not had a failure of your hip replacement yet, you may be able to join a class action law suit. If you are contacted by Zimmer Durom, do not sign their legal release, or you may lose this right.

Tags: aging, attorneys, durom recall, elderly, fitness, health, hip replacement, lawsuit, Lawyer, legal, sports, zimmer durom, zimmer durom hip cup, zimmer durom hip recall

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm and is filed under attorneys. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.