Exactech Lawsuit Filed Over Optetrak Knee Replacement Failure

After suffering the catastrophic failure of his Exactech Optetrak Knee Replacement, a Colorado man filed a product liability suit. The defective component caused the patient to need revision surgery just a few years later.

Daniel E. Carson filed the lawsuit at the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado on April 15. It indicated that he may need a partial leg amputation due to complications from a defective and dangerous knee replacement system. The manufacturer has since recalled the product.

People who suffered painful complications from knee implants due to design problems have been sued.

Carson had a left-leg replacement surgery performed by Exactech Optetrak in December 2014. The lawsuit states that the artificial knee broke down in July 2020 after the polyethylene liner began to degrade and cause bone loss, osteolysis, and a very unstable tibia. Carson was rushed to the hospital immediately after the knee injury. He was then rescheduled for the following day.

Carson’s lawsuit states that “while the July 10, 2020 revision surgery was successful due to the damage that his left foot sustained in the failure in his Optetrak Knee system, in future Plaintiff most likely will need an above-the-knee amputation of its left leg,”

More than a year after the revision surgery, an Exactech knee recall was issued for more than 140,000 Optetrak, Optetrak Logic, and Truliant implants distributed since 2004, which were packaged in “out-of-specification” vacuum bags that exposed the plastic components to oxygen before they were implanted. At that time, the manufacturer acknowledged that the packaging defect could have led to the knee implant failing once it was infected.

Exactech Optetrak Knee Repair Problems

This case is one of many Exactech lawsuits being filed by people who have had problems with their Optetrak, Optrak logic, or Truliant system in recent years. It indicates that the manufacturer failed to recognize evidence of the high rates of knee failures associated with the implants.

Exactech’s knee implants were the subject of lawsuits in 2017. The FDA received alarming numbers of adverse event reports, which led to what some called a “silent Exactech recall.” In 2017, Exactech began quietly and slowly replacing some Optetrak models’ tibial tray trays.

The recall notice was issued earlier in the year. It now states that foreign registries found an increased rate of Exactech-related knee problems. This can often lead to additional surgery just a few years later.

from lawyers.buzz https://lawyers.buzz/exactech-lawsuit-filed-over-optetrak-knee-replacement-failure/1344/
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