Hip replacement surgery is considered one of the most successful orthopedic surgeries one can undergo, as judged by patient satisfaction. And thanks to new techniques, many hip replacements are minimally invasive, resulting in shorter hospital stays, faster rehabilitation, and improved results.
An artificial hip recipient can expect his or her implant to last, on average, fifteen years. It was recently reported, however, that two hip replacement devices manufactured by Johnson and Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics have an aberrantly high 5-year failure rate. According to data from Great Britain, 1 out of 8 recipients of the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System will require a second hip replacement due to defects with the original implant. Numerous problems have been reported with the ASRs, including migration, dislocation, bone fractures, and toxic metal debris.
For these reasons, both ASR devices were recalled in August 2010. Since then, victims in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States have filed lawsuits against DePuy. With over 90,000 ASR recipients worldwide, attorneys are estimating that the number of DePuy recall lawsuits could reach 4,000.
Since the start of 2008, the FDA had received about 400 complaints about the failure of a hip replacement implant made by the DePuy Orthopaedics unit of Johnson & Johnson requiring expensive and painful operations to put in new hip replacements. More than two years later, on August 26, 2010, the company finally announced that it was recalling the hip implants.
The implant in question is the ASR XL Acetabular System, also known as ASR, which is a hip socket used in traditional hip replacement. About 93,000 of these devices have been implanted worldwide and according to a Johnson & Johnson earnings report, DePuy’s sales in 2009 were about $5.4 billion.
DePuy advised patients who had had hip replacements with the recalled products to visit their surgeons for an evaluation and annual monitoring. The company said it would pay reasonable and customary medical costs associated with the recalled products, including new hip replacement operations. According to the statement from DePuy, about 12 to 13 percent of patients needed a second hip replacement within five years of receiving an ASR implant, said, citing new unpublished data from a national registry in Britain.
If you or a loved one have been treated with the DePuy Hip Replacement Implants, contact us immediately. We would aggressively pursue your rights in obtaining compensation for your injury.