Circuit Allows Lawsuit over Failed Artificial Hip

CHICAGO (CN) - A woman whose artificial hip failed did not wait too long to sue the manufacturer, the 7th Circuit ruled.

Lenore Aebischer's new hip began to cause her problems less than four years after it was implanted. After another hip surgery, the doctor told her the artificial hip had suffered "advanced or catastrophic failure."

Aebischer sued Stryker Corp. and Howmedica Osteonics Corp., the manufacturers of the hip. They argued that Aebischer should have sued within two years of her problems with the hip.

Judge Sykes disagreed, stating that Illinois' two-year statute of limitations began when Aebischer first realized that the hip was manufactured defectively, not when it began to hurt.

Since Aebischer sued within two years of that time, Sykes remanded her case for trial.

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