Christopher Elliott – Bachus & Schanker, LLC
$21M Verdict: Animation Clearly Shows Damage from Defective Hip Implant
-
Animation
-
Medical Device
-
Product Liability
-
Case Study
- +2
A woman suffered extensive heavy metal poisoning and multiple hip revision surgeries due to a defective metal-on-metal hip replacement. Christopher Elliot of Bachus & Schanker in Denver, CO, along with the other members of the trial team, needed a detailed medical animation to show where the defect in the mechanism and how it impacted the plaintiff. These visuals sent a powerful message, helping them to reach a successful $21M verdict.
Challenge
The metal hip replacement in this case was defective, causing it to break down inside the plaintiff’s body. The metal caused necrosis and destruction of her entire hip abductor musculature resulting in subsequent invasive surgical revision surgeries and closed reduction procedures.
The defense argued that the implanting surgeon was at fault for placing the hip implant incorrectly, and that the plaintiff was in non-compliance with her doctor’s restrictions.
Animation of left total hip arthroplasty with metal-on-metal technology.
Approach
Our expert medical illustrators and animators collected the evidence in order to create a clear visual animation that would:
-
01
Communicate how a metal-on-metal hip implant can fail and the nature of injuries that can be caused by this type of failure.
-
02
Show how heavy metal poisoning affects the body internally, and the subsequent pain and suffering that it caused the plaintiff.
-
03
Illustrate the complex dangers of this type of defective device.
Animation still of how the degradation of metal caused metallosis.
Result
The animation was so effective that the jury awarded the plaintiff $21M - the largest verdict this specific courthouse has ever seen.
“The visual helped the jury to fully understand the mechanism of injury, and how a metal-on-metal hip implant can fail and cause metal debris to destroy the surrounding muscles and tissues.”
Get in Touch
High Impact’s team of visual strategists, artists, and developers can build and customize your digital presentation for any case involving personal injury, medical malpractice, birth trauma - or any subject involving complex information.
Interested in working with us? Click here to get started. If you'd prefer, you can email us or call us at (800) 749 2184.
Work with us
Interested in working with us? To get started choose one of the options below, or send us an email if you’d prefer.