Defective Medical Device Attorney
DePuy ASR Hip Implant Replacement Recall Lawsuit | Side Effects: Severe Pain and Discomfort, Unexplained Hip Pain, Difficulty Standing or Walking, Loosening of the Hip Implant, Failure of the Hip Implant, Unexplained Hip Pain, Osteolysis, Cobalt Poisoning, Metalosis
The leading law firm of Alonso Krangle LLP is currently investigating potential lawsuits on behalf of victims of DePuy Orthopaedics’ ASR Hip Implant devices. DePuy, a division of Johnson Johnson, issued a worldwide recall of its ASR Hip Replacements in August 2010 because many people were experiencing premature failure of this metal-on-metal hip implant within a few years of their initial surgery. As a result, thousands of people have had to undergo painful revision surgeries thanks to a failed DePuy ASR hip implant. In many cases, victims of DePuy ASR hip implants will continue to suffer pain and disability because of this defective device. Since the recall, thousands of victims have filed suit against DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson Johnson over their DePuy ASR Hip Implant injuries.
The defective medical device lawyers at Alonso Krangle LLP rank among the nation’s top personal injury lawyers, and are committed to making sure the victims of recalled DePuy ASR hip implants receive the justice they deserve. If you experienced pain and disability due to a defective DePuy hip implant, you deserve compensation for your suffering. By filing a DePuy ASR Hip Implant lawsuit, you may be able to obtain restitution from DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson Johnson for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. The defective medical device lawyers at Alonso Krangle LLP are currently offering free lawsuit consultations to anyone injured by a defective DePuy ASR Hip Implant. To learn more about your legal rights, please contact the DePuy ASR Hip Implant recall lawyers at Alonso Krangle LLP today.
DePuy ASR Hip Implant Recall
In August 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics issued a worldwide recall of its ASR Hip Resurfacing System and ASR Acetabular System, after data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales showed that 1 out of every 8 patients (12%-13%) who had received the devices had to undergo revision surgery within five years of receiving it. Prior to the recall, roughly 93,000 defective ASR Hip Implants were sold by DePuy and implanted in patients in the U.S. and abroad.
The DePuy ASR Hip Implants subject to the recall were sold between 2005 and 2009. If you received a metal-on-metal hip implant during this time period, and suffered serious complications or implant failure that required revision surgery, you may have been the victim of a recalled DePuy ASR Hip Implant. Symptoms typical of a failed DePuy ASR Hip Replacement device include:
- Swelling or pain in the effected hip or surrounding areas
- Difficulty walking or pain in the hip when doing so
- Grinding or popping noises originating in the hip area
- Inflammation or infection in the affected hip
- Dislocation or improper positioning of the implant
- Loosening of the implant when the device is not attached in the correct position to the bone
- Dislocation of the implant components
- Bone fractures at the hip
- Metal poisoning, or metallosis, which is a reaction to the metal debris that is shed when components of the device rub together
Even patients who haven’t yet experienced problems with their DePuy ASR hip implant need to be aware of this recall. An absence of symptoms does not mean that your implant has not degraded or failed. All individuals who have received a DePuy ASR Hip Implant have been advised to contact their surgeon for an evaluation, even if they are not experience problems.
While the recall was issued in 2010, it has become apparent that DePuy Orthopaedics was aware years before that its ASR Hip Implant devices posed a danger to patients. In March 2006, DePuy had sent a letter to doctors warning that the ASR devices had a higher-than-expected failure rate—but only in certain patients, including women, patients of short stature, and those with weak bones. In December 2009, DePuy withdrew ASR units from the Australian market and reported that it would do so worldwide in 2010. The company claimed it was pulling the ASR Hip Implant from the Australian market because of poor sales.
The DePuy ASR hip implant received approval from the U.S. Food Drug Administration (FDA) via its 510(k) approval process. This more streamlined clearance process allows medical devices to be approved without human clinical trials if it can be shown that the device is “substantially equivalent” to a product already on the market. However, according to a report from the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), the DePuy ASR had been approved by the FDA based on similarities to existing implants, even though the device made a significant change in material by using a metal alloy cup from a different hip device retrofitted to a standard hip implant. The metal-on-metal design was “touted as a major innovation,” but had never been tested, the NEJM said.
Dangers of Metal-on-Meta Hip Implants
The DePuy ASR Hip Replacement devices involved in the August 2010 recall are metal-on-metal hip implants, a class of devices which have recently been linked to serious complications and injuries. Patients with metal-on-metal hip implants, including the DePuy ASR devices, have suffered loss of bone, death of surrounding tissue, the development of pseudo-tumors in surrounding tissue, and early failure requiring replacement. It is believed that these complications are the result of microscopic shards of metal being shed into the blood stream, resulting in reactions like metallosis, a form of toxic metal poisoning, and cobalt poisoning. In 2011, the growing number of problems reported by people with metal-on-metal hip implants caused the FDA to order DePuy Orthopaedics and 20 other hip replacement manufacturers to conduct post-market studies of their devices to determine if they were shedding dangerous amounts of metallic debris in patients.
Learn More About Filing A DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuit
If you or a loved one suffered complications, including pain, disability and need for revision surgery, because of a defective DePuy ASR Hip Implant, you may be eligible to file a personal injury lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson Johnson. To learn more about the legal options available to you, please contact the DePuy ASR Hip Implant recall lawyers at Alonso Krangle LLP by filling out our online form or calling us.