A new knee implant lawsuit against Stryker and Mako Surgical Group over substantial design defects associated with the Restoris Multi-Compartmental Knee (MCK) implant has been transferred to the federal court system.

Hazel Perry filed the complaint this past month in the Superior Court of Gwinnett County. She alleges that the Mako Restoris MCK system is dangerously defective. The knee implant failed in less than a year after implantation, necessitating a subsequent hospitalization and risky revision surgery.

The manufacturers succeeded in removing the case to the Northern District of Georgia this past week. They petitioned for the transfer due to diversity of citizenship between the parties. Mako is a subsidiary of Stryker. However, their headquarters are in different states. Stryker’s is in Michigan, while Mako’s are in Delaware and Florida. Perry resides in Georgia.

In October 2015, Perry received the Mako Restoris MCK knee implant during a total replacement surgery on her right knee. According to the lawsuit, the knee implant was loosening significantly by May 2016. In June 2016, she required revision surgery to address the substantial damage. The surgical pathology report identified the defective knee implant as causing the failure.

“As a direct and proximate result of the defective Restoris MCK, Plaintiff has suffered catastrophic injuries and damages, including medical expenses, mental and physical pain and suffering, and loss of consortium,” the lawsuit says. “In the future, Plaintiff will require therapeutic medical care and other necessary expenses.”

The Mako Restoris MCK is a knee implant system that Stryker and Mako designed specifically for use as part of robotic-assisted surgery, which Stryker also manufacturers. The Mako robotic arm helps surgeons follow a planned path for removing bone and cartilage in joint replacement surgery.

Knee Implant Litigation

A growing number of individuals are coming forward to take knee implant companies to task for debilitating problems from several different systems that manufacturers have released in recent years. These defective knee replacement systems have unreasonably high failure rates, resulting in necessary knee revision surgery to address problems from the knee implants, including blood poisoning, pseudotumors, and incapacitating pain.

Many of these device failures are due to tibial loosening and tibial base plate failures. Recent problematic knee designs include the Exactech Optetrak Knee and Arthrex iBalance Knee among others.