UK patients lose legal claim that DePuy metal-on-metal hip implant was “defective”

More than 300 people who were fitted with a metal-on-metal hip implant that is no longer used have lost a UK group legal action against the US manufacturer.1

The claimants argued that DePuy International’s Pinnacle Ultamet hip replacement released metal debris into the surrounding tissue and was a defective product under the UK’s product liability law.

But at the High Court in London Mrs Justice Andrews ruled that the adverse reactions of some patients to metal wear debris was a known consequence of metal-on-metal hips and did not amount to a defect under the law. …