DePuy ASR Lawsuits Continue to Rise Despite Recall

Lawsuits continue to be filed against the DePuy Orthopaedic Inc. for its allegedly defective metal-on-metal Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip systems. The latest filed by Michael Schaff in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, is seeking more than $75,000 in damages allegedly for DePuy's negligence. The lawsuits that were filed ahead of Schaff's were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) under Judge David A. Katz of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio who called for a status conference of the DePuy hip replacement lawsuit this month.

In his case filed last Oct. 11, 2011, Schaff claimed that he had suffered injuries resulting from a faulty DePuy ASR hip replacement system. Schaff had his hip replacement surgery in November of 2009, and less than two years later, he required revision surgery. Schaff claimed that he had suffered severe and permanent injuries both externally and internally because of the implant.

Because of Depuy's "careless and negligent acts," including improperly designing and fraudulently marketing the implant as safe and effective, Schaff suffered "great pain and anguish, both in mind and body, and will in the future continue to suffer," the lawsuit further alleged. Most likely Schaff's case will be transferred to the pending MDL in the Northern District of Ohio under Judge Katz, after the preliminary step of removing it to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois was taken.

The "New York Times" reported that several orthopedic specialists said that they believed that the design of the ASR cup, which is shallower than some similar devices, was at the heart of the implant's problems. DePuy had designed a shallower cup and removed the plastic liner from the inside of the implant to allow patients a wider range of motion. Instead, cobalt and chromium particles from the device flakes off into the soft tissue around the area leading to several problems, one of them metallosis, as a result of the friction of the ball portion of the hip implant against the socket.

It, however, appears that the problem also involved other metal-on-metal hip implants in general and not just confined to the ASR hip replacement recall alone. Proving it is the thousands of complaints received by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for this year alone. Despite DePuy accounting for 75 percent of the complaints, the rest involved some other metal-on-metal hip implant manufacturers.

Some 21 manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip systems, including DePuy Orthopaedics, Stryker, Zimmer, Biomet and Wright Medical Technology were ordered for post-market surveillance studies by the FDA last May 2011. This required the companies to provide additional studies regarding the possible adverse health consequences of the implants. It will, however, take at least five years for this studies to be completed.

References:

depuyhipreplacementlawsuit.com/depuy-hip-replacement-lawsuit-status-conference-this-month/

world.einnews.com/pr_news/59900568/asymptomatic-metal-on-metal-hip-replacement-patients-may-still-be-experiencing-tissue-damage

forthepeople.com/depuy-metallosis-depuy-hip-implant-recall--12-3189.html

nytimes.com/2010/03/10/business/10device.html

moriarty.com/depuy_hip_recall/Stay_Informed/What_is_Metallosis/

orthosupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=40090