Definitions

Below are common words, phrases, and names that often pop up in discussions of artificial hips, knees, and other medical devices.  These definitions may assist you as you read through the articles on this site.  Of course, you are always welcome to contact me directly for further explanation.

GENERAL TERMS

Bellwether Cases. A representative set of cases to be tried to juries.  When many cases are filed in courts which involve the failure of a single product (or drug), and which have caused similar injury to many individuals, a single court may be chosen to consolidate most of the cases into one “multi-district litigation.” Committees of plaintiffs and defendants then choose a representative sample of those cases to be tried to a jury, which must be approved by the presiding judge.  These cases typically contain broad characteristics in common with many of the remaining cases.  After the jury verdicts are reached in these bellwether cases, the committees for the plaintiffs and defendants can use these trial results to negotiate a global settlement structure.

DFU.  Acronym for “directions for use.”

Fraud. Fraud involves an intentional or deliberate deception to achieve and unfair or unlawful gain. In the context of medical device and drug litigation, plaintiffs have argued that companies knew about the dangers of a particular product but intentionally sold the product anyway, thus unnecessarily harming innocent people.

Health Insurance Subrogation. Subrogation is the substitution of one person or entity for another with respect to an insurance claim or debt, and the entity substituted will obtain all the rights associated with the insurance claim or debt. In product liability and other personal injury cases, your health insurance carrier pays for your health care and then directly pursues reimbursement of those health care payments against the negligent third party or the third party’s insurance provider.

Loss of Consortium. A “derivative” claim that arises when a spouse or close family member of the person injured by a defendant suffers separate losses, such as a loss of companionship or intimacy. The claim of loss of consortium has been described as “in consequence of lost society and services,” and while it once referred to the loss of companionship following the injury to a wife, it now applies to all spouses and same sex couples.

MDL.  Acronym for “multi-district litigation.”  When many cases are filed in courts across the country, all of which involve the failure of a single product (or drug), and which have caused similar injury to many individuals, a single court may consolidate most of the cases into one multi-district litigation.  From this one court the designated judge will manage the large caseload, hear motions, resolve disputes, preside over bellwether trials, and monitor global settlement discussion.

Negligence. The failure to exercise the appropriate amount of care in a given situation. In tort law, negligence involves harm caused by a failure of a person or company to perform a duty owed to another person. Quick example: if you text while driving and hit another car, you are driving negligently and will be liable for damages caused by the negligence. In product liability law, a company acts negligently when it releases a flawed product into the marketplace without doing the proper testing or without warning the public of the dangers of the product.

Preemption.  When federal and state laws are in conflict, federal law trumps or “preempts” state and local law. If a state law conflicts with a federal law, the state law cannot be enforced. Federal preemption is a principle of constitutional law that attempts to organize and reconcile the powers of federal, state, and local governments. Preemption is derived from the Supremacy Clause in the United States Constitution. Preemption defense arises often in medical device and drug cases.

Punitive Damages.  Separate money damages awarded by a jury and which are intended to punish, reform, and/or deter a bad-acting defendant and others from engaging in similar conduct. Typically punitive damages are awarded when a defendant had prior knowledge of a serious issue or problem and ignored this knowledge to the injury or detriment of other people.

Statute of Limitations.  Every state has statutes which limit the amount of time a person is permitted to bring a lawsuit after an injury (including a physical injury from a medical device or drug). In North Carolina, a medical device or drug failure is typically a product liability/negligence action, and the statute of limitations in those cases is typically three years.  N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-52.

MANUFACTURERS AND PRODUCT SELLERS

C.R. Bard, Inc. A company which develops and manufactures medical device products, including transvaginal mesh and IVC Filters.

Depuy.  A collection of companies which develops and manufactures medical products, including artificial hips and knees.  Depuy, Inc. and Depuy Orthopaedics is owned by parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson. A huge corporation that owns several medical device and drug companies. J&J owns companies that manufacture and sell artificial hips (DePuy), and pelvic mesh products, as well as problematic drugs: Xarelto, Risperdal, Invokana. J&J is heavily invested in the markets for medical devices and prescription drugs, and J&J is a defendant in many of the MDLs discussed on this site.

Smith & Nephew. A British multinational medical equipment company which manufactures, among other products, the Smith & Nephew Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) artificial hip.

Stryker.  A company which develops and manufactures medical products, including artificial hips like the Stryker LFIT v40.

Zimmer-Biomet.  A company which develops and manufactures medical products, including artificial hips and knees.

MEDICAL DEVICES

Artificial Hips:

acetabular cup.  A cup made of metal or ceramic or other material manufactured to sit in the body’s hip cavity (acetabulum) and into which is secured the femoral ball at the top of the femoral stem. An acetabular shell sits inside the acetabular cup.

acetabulum.  The hip cavity on the hip bone, where the head of the femur sits.

ASR.  The acronym which stands for “Articular Surface Replacement,” a surgical procedure where only the articular surface of the hip (the cup and the ball) is replaced. This metal-on-metal hip replacement system was developed and manufactured by Depuy Orthopaedics.

BHR. Acronym for the Smith & Nephew Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) artificial hip.

chromium.  One of the metal materials used in the construction of the metal-on-metal hip components.  Evidence of chromium in the blood of patients who received the metal-on-metal hip components created a red flag for the safety of the metal-on-metal design.

cobalt.  One of the metal materials used in the construction of the metal-on-metal hip components.  Evidence of cobalt in the blood of patients who received the metal-on-metal hip components created a red flag for the safety of the metal-on-metal design.

Depuy ASR Cup.  The metal cup manufactured by Depuy Orthopaedics which is part of the ASR XL Acetabular System.

femoral ball.  Also called the femoral head, it is a metal ball that is fixed on a stem inserted into a femur as part of a hip replacement surgery.

femoral stem.  The rod-like component part of an artificial hip that slips down inside the femur bone.

LFIT v40 femoral head. The Stryker LFIT V40 system includes a metal acetabular cup, a polyethylene (or plastic) liner, a cobalt-chromium femoral head, and a titanium femoral stem. The failure of the Stryker LFIT V40 involves the junction of the neck of the femoral stem and the femoral head or ball. This connection was intended to be permanently secured through a taper lock system, holding the stem securely to the ball. In many cases, however, once implanted the V40 femoral head began to corrode. Over time the corrosion can cause the taper lock to become compromised and loosen. Eventually, the neck would corrode as well, and once the neck began to corrode the breakdown of the artificial hip would advance more quickly.

implantation surgery.  This is the original hip replacement surgery, where the surgeon implants the artificial hip components into a patient.

metallosis.  The build up of metal levels in the blood and in body tissue.  When a metal-on-metal artificial hip cup and ball grind together, it is believed that tiny shavings are released into the body, elevating metal levels.  This is a substantial health concerns for individuals who received metal-on-metal hip replacement components.

metal-on-metal (“MoM”).  The construction of artificial hip components using metal materials, such as cobalt and chrome.  The hip component manufacturers developed this hip replacement system with the hope that it would last much longer than hip components made with other materials, such as ceramic.  However, the failure rate proved much higher.

revision surgery.  A surgery required when a hip replacement surgery has failed.  The surgeon must re-enter the hip area, secure the loose or failed components, or remove and replace the failed components.

re-revision surgery.  A surgery required when a revision surgery fails.  Yes, sadly this means that the person has had to undergo three surgeries to the same hip (the implantation surgery, the revision, and the rerevision).  There are cases where patients have had to undergo three, four, and even five surgeries to stabilize and repair a hip.  Obviously, these are among the very worst results.

THA.  Total Hip Arthroplasty, the medical term for a total hip replacement surgery.

total hip replacement.  A total hip replacement replaces the body’s hip joint with an artificial one, and these artificial hips are usually made out of metal or plastics. A total hip replacement typically consists of four separate parts: (1) a stem, (2) a head, (3) a liner, and (4) a cup (called an “acetabular cup” or shell). After the surgeon hollows out the patient’s femur bone, the stem is implanted. The head is a metal ball that is fixed on top of the stem. The femoral head forms the hip joint when it is placed inside the liner and the cup (the “acetabular shell”).

Intrauterine Device (IUD):

Mirena IUD is an intrauterine birth control device sold by Bayer. It has been shown to cause fluid buildup in the brain, which can be a serious health issue.

Transvaginal Mesh:

dyspareunia.  Difficult or painful sexual intercourse.  Dyspareunia can be a complication from transvaginal mesh implantation.

polypropylene.  A type of plastic used to make some transvaginal mesh products.  It is defined as a “thermoplastic polymer resin.”  Many experts contend that it is an inappropriate material to implant in women.

POP.  Acronym for Pelvic Organ Prolapse, which occurs when an organ (like the bladder) drops (“prolapses”) from its normal position in the body and presses against the walls of the vagina.  Physicians have used transvaginal mesh products to treat this condition (with often terrible results).

SUI.  Stress Urinary Incontinence, a kind of urinary incontinence that occurs when a woman places a stress on her body, as when she is lifting a heavy object, exercising, or even coughing; these “stresses” put pressure on a woman’s bladder, sometimes causing involuntary loss of urine.

TVM.  Acronym for transvaginal mesh.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS:

GLP-1s. Weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro. The active ingredient in weight loss medications is semaglutide, which is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor antagonist. GLP-1 is a hormone that affects how much insulin the body produces in response to eating food. GLP-1s also affect appetite.

OTHER PRODUCTS:

AFFF. AFFF is a special liquid that firefighters use to fight fires caused by flammable liquids, like gasoline and jet fuel. AFFF works by creating a foam layer over the flammable liquid, which makes it much harder for that liquid to burn. The primary components in AFFF that gives it this fire suppression quality are perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctane acid (PFOA). Some studies have linked AFFF to a higher risk for cancer.

Paraquat. Paraquat is as an herbicide, used to kill weeds. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified paraquat as a Restricted Use Pesticide. This means that the EPA knows the herbicide is so dangerous, only individuals with the appropriate license can use it. Studies have shown that exposure to paraquat can potentially cause Parkinson’s Disease.