Scottish pensioner says hip implant poisoned her for more than a decade

A 71-year-old woman says she was “slowly poisoned” for more than a decade after tiny metal particles from a hip replacement leached into her body.

Doctors at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank diagnosed Lilias Watters with metallosis after she underwent hip replacement surgery in 2012. Her right hip was fitted with a metal-on-polyethylene implant made up of a cobalt chrome head and titanium stem.

She told STV News she became seriously unwell after the surgery and “knew something wasn’t right”.

“I had nothing to compare it to,” she told STV News. “So I just would go back, and they would do an X-ray, and they’d say, ‘Oh, it’s all good.’

“Nobody was joining the dots.”

Metallosis is a rare condition linked to hip and groin pain, fatigue, and damage to the heart and nervous system.

Over the years, Lilias repeatedly returned to her GP with symptoms that were later linked to metal poisoning.

She said: “I was going back and forward to my GP with what turned out to be chronic sinusitis, tinnitus, hearing loss in both the ears. And these are all symptoms of chromium and cobalt poisoning.”

In 2023, Lilias fell and dislocated her hip. Further investigations revealed a large calcified pseudo-tumour at the top of her right hip, prompting blood tests.

“The blood tests came back that I had metallosis, which is cobalt and chromium poisoning,” said Lilias. “I needed urgent revision surgery. The whole lot had to be removed.”

Doctors confirmed that Lilias had metal poisoning, “due to an incompatible chromium head and titanium stem of the prosthetic”.

She underwent revision surgery at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in 2023 to remove the implant.

Lilias says she was warned that she might wake up with her entire leg amputated due to the extent of metal poisoning and severe deterioration of the muscles and bone around her hip.

She was also told that “a litre of black rusty gunge had to be drained before they could start removing all the necrotic muscle tissue tendons”.

“I had that prosthetic in for 11 years. So it was 11 years of being gradually poisoned to death,” Lilias told STV News.

“Cobalt and chromium poisoning can affect your heart, your liver, your kidneys, because it’s in your bloodstream, and it goes everywhere. It was bits of metal everywhere in my body.”

Doctors have told Lilias that levels of chromium and cobalt in her body remain high and could take years to fall.

“I’ve actually had four blood tests because I’ve insisted on having them,” she said. “The cobalt levels have come down steadily over two years, not rapidly. There’s no pathway.”

The implant was manufactured by US-based medical technology company Stryker.

A spokesperson for the firm told STV News: “People are at the centre of everything we do, and we are committed to working with healthcare professionals to improve the lives of their patients. However, we do not comment on individual patient matters.”

Lilias’ complications are considered extremely rare. Only a small number of the Accolade TMZF Hip Stem 1 and the V40 Taper Head implants were ever used in the UK.

However, in the United States, numerous lawsuits have been filed against Stryker over the TMZF Hip Stem 1, Rejuvenate and ABG II implants, with claimants alleging the designs are defective and lead to high complication and failure rates.

STV News asked Stryker whether Lilias’ implant is still in use and how many remain in stock, but the company has not responded to our request for comment.

NHS Golden Jubilee, where Lilias had surgery in both 2012 and 2023, said in a statement: “At NHS Golden Jubilee, we are committed to delivering safe, effective and person-centred care for all our patients.

“While we cannot discuss the details of individual cases, we can confirm that our clinical teams select the most appropriate implant or device for each patient based on their condition and the best evidence available at the time.

“Before any surgery or intervention, patients take part in an informed consent discussion covering the benefits, alternative options, and potential risks or complications. While such complications are uncommon, they can occur.

“Where necessary, this may be addressed through additional surgery and an ongoing programme of follow-up care and regular review.

“Through every patient journey, we take pride in providing clear communication and transparency in all of our decisions and processes. We uphold our duty of candour and encourage patients and families to raise any questions or concerns with us at any time so we can respond promptly and constructively.

“If someone is unhappy with any aspect of their care, we aim to resolve complaints as quickly as possible through our established feedback and complaints processes.

“However, even with explanation, evidence and discussion, there may be occasions when we cannot fully meet an individual’s desired outcome. When that happens, we remain committed to listening, explaining our clinical reasoning, and signposting to further review routes as appropriate.”

What is metallosis?

Metallosis is a rare form of metal poisoning that can occur following joint replacement surgery involving metal components.

Artificial hips typically last between ten and 15 years. However, metal-on-metal implants can fail much sooner and have been linked to tissue damage, bone destruction, and elevated metal ion levels in the blood.

When metal parts rub together, microscopic fragments can be released into surrounding tissue and the bloodstream, potentially damaging the nervous system and other organs.

“The small fragments of metal, particularly if they have cobalt in it would seem, actually produce irritation of the soft tissues that produce an inflammatory change,” leading orthopaedic surgeon Professor Phil Turner told STV News.

“But that inflammatory change gets carried away and starts to actually eat into the soft tissues around it, producing sort of fluid-filled spaces in the soft tissue around, but also eroding the bones so that the metal stem, which is usually cemented into the femur, starts to come loose.

“So symptoms will start, for example, with pain on initial standing, with a little bit of movement in the hip, and then the pain just gradually increases with mobilisation.”

‘No reason for alarm’

Professor Turner, who is also vice president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said cases like Lilias’ should not cause widespread concern.

In September last year, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an alert about a different cobalt-containing hip implant, the Profemur, with around 2,000 patients now undergoing checks.

“All the units that have put the Profemur in have been informed,” Professor Turner said.

“All the surgeons know that they’ve used it and all the patients should have been contacted. The only source of information you can get for this would be to get back in touch with a hospital where you had your hip replacement done. But I would like to stress the chance of them having a hip that is a source of concern is very, very small.

“The Profemur is a slightly unusual type of hip replacement. It is made of cobalt chrome, but many other joint replacements are made of cobalt chrome. So it’s not the metal that it’s made of that was the problem. It’s the actual design of the implant.”

In some patients, corrosion and erosion of the metal has led to metallosis.

Professor Turner stressed that hip replacement surgery remains highly successful.

“In the UK overall there’s between 100,000 and 120,000 hip replacements done every year. The results are remarkably good. It’s one of the biggest success stories in modern surgery.

“The figures suggest that around about 95% will last at least ten years. It’s not a short-term fix. This is a long-term solution.”