Houston, TXIf you had a Zimmer hip implant recently and the pain that was supposed to disappear is still there, you may want to do some investigating. Attorney Adam Pulaski, from the firm of Pulaski Middleman, has recently filed about a dozen complaints on behalf of people who have Zimmer Durom Cup implants.
"It is a ball and cup implant that basically does not adhere to the bone properly; people complain they still have pain anywhere between two months and two years after the surgery," Pulaski explains on the phone from his office in Houston.
Apart from excruciating pain, there are other ways to find out if the cause may be a problem with a Zimmer Duron ball and cup implant. Hip replacement patients can check with their doctor or consult the plastic laminate card given to all medical device recipients in the US that lists model details or they can have an X-ray.
Pulaski says often people who contact his firm with Zimmer Durom implant worries don`t know which implant they have. "X-rays will show that instead of bonding securely to the bone, the implant has separated and is scraping against the bone," says Pulaski.
The Zimmer Durom was recently recalled in the US as a defective medical device, but not before about 13,000 Americans had it implanted. According to the research done by the Pulaski Middleman team, the device has a 5 percent failure rate. "What that means is that there are a lot of people out there experiencing problems," says Pulaski. ``We think there are about 500 to 1200 people experiencing difficulties. We`ve heard from a few, but we know there are more out there."
The case against the manufacturer, Zimmer Holdings, over the Durom Cup is just beginning in the US. "We are still taking on new plaintiffs," says Pulaski. "There is still a lot of information we don`t have regarding the design of the implant and what the company`s own research shows about the implant but we expect to find out more during the discovery process."
At least one other Zimmer implant is reported to have had problems. Although it is still for sale in the United States, a knee implant called the Unispacer was removed from the Australian market three years ago after data showed a failure rate of over 50 percent, according to the research gathered by the Pulaski Middleman firm.
An experienced litigator in the area of defective medical devices, Pulaski says companies are not usually amenable to settling these kinds of suits before trial. He says he fully expects the complaints he has filed against Zimmer Holdings to go all the way through the court system and is preparing on behalf his clients accordingly.
Adam Pulaski received a B.A. from the University of Texas (1987) and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law School (1990). His practice is focused on Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Toxic Torts, Environmental Torts, Pharmaceutical Litigation, Securities Litigation and Consumer Fraud.