Boehringer, et. al. v. Smith & Nephew, Inc., et. al. (Waterbury Superior Court—filed April 30, 2018)  On July 20, 2010, our client received a bilateral hip replacement with products designed, manufactured, and sold by Smith & Nephew, Inc., and implanted by John M. Keggi of Orthopaedics New England, P.C.  Less than a year later, Dr. Keggi informed the plaintiff that Smith & Nephew instituted a recall of the hip liners used during surgery due to the product’s failure to conform to manufacturing specifications. Several batches of the liners had been subjected to no or very poor quality control by the manufacturer, permitting titanium rings to be applied improperly in violation of FDA specifications, making the parts very risky for fatigue fracture. Although the liners implanted in the plaintiff were subject of this recall, Keggi told our client that revision was unnecessary as the part should “continue to function well… with the same durability as those not affected by the recall” and assured the plaintiff “no change [was] recommended in [his] level of activity.”  In 2017, while walking his dogs, the plaintiff experienced “clicking” sensations in his right hip followed by very sharp pain that only worsened over the next two weeks. A subsequent CT scan revealed a catastrophic complete fracture of the right hip liner. The plaintiff was forced to undergo a total hip revision surgery, performed by Keggi, where he confirmed intraoperatively that the Smith & Nephew right hip liner had broken into two pieces. Our plaintiff continues to experience “squeaking” and pain in his left hip and will likely require total hip revision on the other side in the near future due to a similar failure of the product manufactured and distributed by Smith & Nephew. Because the defendant—who profited from the sale and distribution of these adulterated and defective products—misrepresented them as “safe to use,” the plaintiff has more surgery, more associated risks, more medical expenses, and more pain and disability to contend with in his future. He can no longer enjoy his everyday activities, and has suffered a loss of income and quality of life.  Keggi, the co-defendant in this case, was also a defendant in a product liability case we handled in 2011 involving another catastrophic ceramic hip explosion. He had assured that plaintiff, a MLB umpire, that he was given “the Rolls Royce of artificial hips” just one month before it shattered, ending his career. Much to the umpire’s chagrin, Keggi’s endorsement of the poorly manufactured Wright Medical hip was an error.