Smith & Nephew Hip Replacement Lawsuits

As of November 2024, there were 2 active Smith & Nephew’s Birmingham Hip Resurfacing hip implant lawsuits pending in multidistrict litigation. MDL 2775 is before Sr. District Judge Catherine C. Blake in Maryland federal court. 

• October 2024: This month, the number of active cases left in the MDL fell to just two. In our experience, this could mean that cases have been dismissed or settled for a confidential amount.
• May 2024: Ronald J. Kraemer became the latest person to file a lawsuit against Smith & Nephew in the MDL. Cases continued to transfer into the MDL from state courts.
• October 2023: Plaintiff Lori Bellan’s motion to vacate the court’s dismissal of her claims were denied.
• January 2023: Clerk of the MDL panel rejected some cases for inclusion to the MDL, but new cases were still being added to the MDL.
• May 2022: Judge Blake granted a motion for summary judgment in Hand v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., and the case was closed.
• February 2022: Judge Catherine Blake dismissed some claims from about 175 male plaintiffs who alleged their implants were defective. However, Blake ruled that claims for misrepresentation and breach of express warranty could go forward.

Attorneys also have been filing claims over Smith & Nephew’s Modular SMF and Modular Redapt Revision Femoral Hip. The company recalled 2,000 of the devices in 2016.

Separately, Smith & Nephew quietly settled some individual actions over its R3 Acetabular Hip System in 2013. The company had recalled several thousand units.

Like many other hip replacements in major litigations, Smith & Nephew BHR systems use a metal-on-metal design. Studies have found the wear between metal parts can release metal ions into the body. Elevated metal levels can cause a condition called metallosis which, in turn, can lead to other serious complications. People who filed lawsuits cited metallosis in their complaints.

Complaint Claims 288 ‘Device Problems’ at Time of Recall

In January 2011, Alberto Grazia received a Smith & Nephew hip implant at Euclid Hospital in Euclid, Ohio. A Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) system replaced his right hip. Grazia’s left hip was also replaced with a BHR system in July 2011.

Grazia endured severe pain after his second hip implant. It was so bad that surgeons had to replace his left hip implant in April 2016.

In December 2016, Grazia filed a lawsuit against Smith & Nephew. It was later included in the MDL over BHR implants. He claimed “metal shedding debris” from friction between the hip-replacement parts led to his persistent pain.

The lawsuit claimed at the time of the device’s recall in 2015, there had been 288 “‘device problems’ with the BHR, including numerous safety problems related to ‘metal shedding debris’ and other symptoms typical of metal-on-metal device failure.”

Metallosis Leads to Revision Surgery, Surgeon Says

Lonnie Taylor of Boca Raton, Florida, had his left hip replaced with BHR system in April 2009. He had his right hip replaced with a BHR system in June of that same year.

In 2018, Taylor needed revision surgery to remove and replace the BHR implants because of severe pain. Surgeons replaced the right hip in January and the left one in May.

Taylor filed a lawsuit in August 2018. It is part of the MDL.

At the time of the right hip revision, Taylor’s surgeon “documented extensive damage to Mr. Taylor‘s right hip anatomy due to severe metallosis,” according to his lawsuit.

“Although Smith & Nephew was aware of the risks associated with the BHR for many years, it did not inform [Taylor] or his healthcare providers until 2015 when it was too late for Plaintiff to avoid the BHR product,” his lawsuit claimed.

Smith & Nephew issued a field-safety notice on its BHR implants in 2015, saying the devices posed a risk of dislocation, fractures and other complications that could require surgery to correct.

In addition, the UK-based company recalled its R3 Acetabular Hip Systems in 2012, and its Modular SMF and Modular Redapt Revision in 2016, over issues serious enough to spark more potential lawsuits.

Recalled Models Named in Lawsuits

Smith & Nephew hip implants named in lawsuits have been the subject of hip replacement recalls or reports of serious complications such as loosening, fractures or the need for revision surgery. At least five models have been the subject of individual lawsuits since 2013. The BHR system is the only one currently involved in a mass litigation.

Smith & Nephew has paid more than $40 million to settle past claims of wrongdoing brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.

In 2007, the company paid $28.9 million to resolve an alleged kickback scheme. The federal government had accused the company of paying doctors to use its devices.

In 2014, Smith & Nephew settled another case with the federal government for $11.3 million. The lawsuit involved devices sold to Veterans Affairs hospitals. The contract required components be made in the U.S.

The federal investigators claimed Smith & Nephew passed off Malaysian-made implants claiming the devices were made in America.