Wilhite v. Howmedica Osteonics Corp.

833 F. Supp. 2d 753, 2011 WL 2530984, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64843
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedJune 20, 2011
DocketCase No. 5:10cv2471
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 833 F. Supp. 2d 753 (Wilhite v. Howmedica Osteonics Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilhite v. Howmedica Osteonics Corp., 833 F. Supp. 2d 753, 2011 WL 2530984, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64843 (N.D. Ohio 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER [Resolving Doc. 19]

SARA LIOI, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on the motion of Defendants, Howmedica Osteonies Corp., Howmedica, Inc., Stryker Corp., Stryker Sales Corp., and Stryker Orthopaedics (collectively “Defendants”) for summary judgment. (Doc. 19.) The matter is fully briefed and is ripe for this Court’s disposition.

1. Background

Defendants are several corporations1 that had some part in the production of the Trident System, a prosthetic hip device. Plaintiffs are Jerry and Rosemary Wilhite (collectively “Plaintiffs”). Rosemary Wilhite (“Mrs. Wilhite”) received a hip replacement in September 2004, which Defendants have since determined involved the implantation of the Trident System2 (“Trident” or “Trident System”), a fact that Plaintiffs do not dispute. After the hip replacement procedure, Plaintiffs assert that Mrs. Wilhite was “seriously and permanently injured when [the] prosthetic device malfunctioned and broke.” Compl. at ¶ 15. During a second surgery, it was determined that “the prosthetic hip device and/or its components malfunctioned and/or were defective, causing severe inju[755]*755ries to [Mrs. Wilhite].” Id. Plaintiffs have brought this action against Defendants to recover damages for Mrs. Wilhite’s injuries and to pursue a loss of consortium claim for Mr. Wilhite. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on the issue of the federal pre-emption of Plaintiffs’ state law claims.

The Trident is a hip replacement system “composed of the following components: a Trident Alumina Insert, Trident Alumina Femoral Head, Trident Acetabular Shell, and a femoral stem component.” (Aff. of M. Many, Doc. 19-1 at ¶4.) The parties have determined that the Trident was used in this instance because an identifying label is affixed to each component of the Trident System, which is then removed from the components and affixed to a patient’s medical chart at the time of implantation. That procedure was followed in this instance, and each of the labels in Mrs. Wilhite’s medical chart indicates that the Trident System was used.

The parties do not dispute the fact that the Trident is a Class III medical device under the provisions of the Medical Device Amendments (“MDA”), 21 U.S.C. § 360c et seq., to the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act (“FDCA”). The MDA places medical devices into one of three categories or classes based upon the risks that they pose to patients. The parties do not dispute that the class into which the Trident is put is Class III, which includes any device that cannot be classified as Classes I or II, and “is purported or represented to be for a use in supporting or sustaining human life or for a use which is of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health” or “presents a potential unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” 21 U.S.C. § 360c(a)(l)(C). A Class III device is therefore “subject [¶]... ] to premarket approval to provide reasonable assurance of its safety and effectiveness.” Id. The parties further do not dispute that, because Trident is a Class III device, it underwent the premarket approval process.

The premarket approval process (“PMA”) is a rigorous process by which these Class III devices are approved for entrance into the market. The Supreme Court in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., 552 U.S. 312, 317-20, 128 S.Ct. 999, 169 L.Ed.2d 892 (2008), describes Class III devices and the PMA process as follows:

The devices receiving the most federal oversight are those in Class III, which include replacement heart valves, implanted eerebella stimulators, and pacemaker pulse generators, FDA, Device Advice: Device Classes, supra. In general, a device is assigned to Class III if it cannot be established that a less stringent classification would provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness, and the device is “purported or represented to be for a use in supporting or sustaining human life or for a use which is of substantial importance in preventing impairment of human health,” or “presents a potential unreasonable risk of illness or injury.” § 360e(a)(l)(C)(ii).
[...]
Premarket approval is a “rigorous” process. Lohr v. Medtronic, Inc., 518 U.S. 470, 477, 116 S.Ct. 2240, 135 L.Ed.2d 700 (1996). A manufacturer must submit what is typically a multivolume application. FDA, Device Advice-Premarket Approval (PMA) 18, http://www.fda.gov/ cdrh/devadviee/pma/printer.html. It includes, among other things, full reports of all studies and investigations of the device’s safety and effectiveness that have been published or should reasonably be known to the applicant; a “full statement” of the device’s “components, ingredients, and properties and of the [756]*756principle or principles of operation”; “a full description of the methods used in, and the facilities and controls used for, the manufacture, processing, and, when relevant, packing and installation of, such device”; samples or device components required by the FDA; and a specimen of the proposed labeling. § 360e(e)(l). Before deciding whether to approve the application, the agency may refer it to a panel of outside experts, 21 CFR § 814.44(a) (2007), and may request additional data from the manufacturer, § 360e(c)(l)(G).
The FDA spends an average of 1,200 hours reviewing each application [Lohr, 518 U.S. at 477, 116 S.Ct. 2240] and grants premarket approval only if it finds there is a “reasonable assurance” of the device’s “safety and effectiveness,” § 360e(d). The agency must “weig[h] any probable benefit to health from the use of the device against any probable risk of injury or illness from such use.” § 360c(a)(2)(C). It may thus approve devices that present great risks if they nonetheless offer great benefits in light of available alternatives. It approved, for example, under its Humanitarian Device Exemption procedures, a ventricular assist device for children with failing hearts, even though the survival rate of children using the device was less than 50 percent. FDA, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Debakey VAD Child Left Ventricular Assist System-H030003, Summary of Safety and Probable Benefit 20 (2004), http:// www.fda.gov/cdrh/pdf3/H030003b.pdf The premarket approval process includes review of the device’s proposed labeling. The FDA evaluates safety and effectiveness under the conditions of use set forth on the label, § 360c(a)(2)(B), and must determine that the proposed labeling is neither false nor misleading, § 360e(d)(l)(A).
After completing its review, the FDA may grant or deny premarket approval. § 360e(d). It may also condition approval on adherence to performance standards, 21 CFR § 861.1(b)(3), restrictions upon sale or distribution, or compliance with other requirements, § 814.82. The agency is also free to impose device-specific restrictions by regulation. § 360j(e)(l).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
833 F. Supp. 2d 753, 2011 WL 2530984, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64843, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilhite-v-howmedica-osteonics-corp-ohnd-2011.