Eight of DePuy Orthopedics’ top executives are required to testify in the consolidated lawsuits filed against the Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. The lawsuit, known as DePuy hip lawsuits where the executives will testify will be for the ASR hip replacement systems which were voluntarily recalled by the company in 2010. In their testimony at the end of this year’s fourth quarter, the company leaders are required to produce outlines, notes, presentation materials, testimonies, documents and oral proposals relating to the ongoing ASR hip lawsuits.
ASR hip implants have proven again and again that they are defective. Such early failure rates in numerous patients can attest to that. Note that the metal-on-metal hip devices were estimated to have a lifespan of 15 years, but at an average of two years, the ASR models start to fail. It is further noted that the metal hip’s failure required the patient to have painful revision surgeries.
Researchers who conducted studies on different types and brands of hip replacement devices found metal-on-metal implants to be the most dangerous to a person’s health. This is because the day to day activities cause the prosthetic hip’s components to grind against one another, producing tiny shards of metal that make its way into the bloodstream leading to metallosis or metal poisoning of the blood. There is also an increased risk of bladder and kidney cancer.
According to Bloomberg, DePuy Orthopedics faces 2,000 lawsuits in state courts. The first trial which was composed of three lawsuits reached a settlement and the plaintiffs were paid $200,000 per case. In February 2012, the New York Times predicted former DePuy Orthopedics president Andrew Ekhdal’s forthcoming testimony. It published that the past executive knew about the early failure rates of the ASR hip implants for an entire year before they pulled the products out of the market. He insisted, though, that it was not a safety issue but rather a business decision. Internal e-mail messages unearthed by the newspaper company revealed DePuy’s former and current top executives thought that doing more studies will be futile and would not improve the company’s tainted safety data.
In January 2012, DePuy Orthopedics was forced to pull out another line of artificial hip implants – the custom orthopedic implants. This recall happened two years after the company pulled out its ASR hip replacement system. DePuy agreed to cease all production of the custom devices after the FDA sent a warning letter stating that the implants were sold without federal approval.
The FDA also stated DePuy used inadequate quality control methods in the custom implants’ production. Since 1999, more than 8,300 implants have been sold but the number of devices that were recalled is not known.
Many individuals who have a prosthetic hip are battling its negative side effects. They are encouraged to discuss the problem with a good lawyer who can help assess the person’s chances of winning a DePuy hip lawsuits. Those who are not sure what brand their hip implant is can call the hospital they had the surgery in or they can ask their doctor.
