Comparing Previous Hip Replacement Lawsuits With the DePuy Case
After victims numbering in the hundreds found out about the risks that the DePuy hip replacement implants give to patients, they quickly arranged for them to file for DePuy lawsuits in the hopes that the company who have been negligent in its provision of a safe medical device would reimburse them for monetary and non-monetary losses.
The owner of the artificial hip could assume the implant would last for about fifteen years, give or take a few years. But current reports tell that an abnormal 5-year failure rate are placed on two hip replacement devices produced by a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson called DePuy Orthopaedics. 1 out of 8 patients who have received the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System discovered flaws with the implant and would need to undergo a second operation, as stated in a data from Great Britain. Migration, dislocation, bone fractures and toxic metal debris are only a few of the reported problems these ASRs possess.
The two ASRs were canceled in August 2010 because of the abovementioned problems. Since then, victims in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States have filed lawsuits against DePuy. Attorneys have estimated that DePuy could receive 4,000 number of lawsuits from the 90,000 or so recipients of the ASR worldwide.
If the victims of the DePuy ASR recall were to base their lawsuits on priority in similar cases, success could be expected. Depuy hip implant recipients could depend on a certain class action suit to show promise.
An implant known as Inter-Op Acetabular Shell, manufactured by Sulzer Orthopedics, Inc. were also recalled in December 2000 – all 30, 000 units. During its manufacture, a lubricant has contaminated the units making it impossible for the bone to stick to the implant. Because of this, about 3,500 people necessitate another hip replacement operation as the first one brought about tremenduous pain and other complications.
A huge class action settlement amounting to $1 billion was granted to the victims by the Sulzer Corporation. Those who underwent revision surgery receive around $206,000 each, while those patients who received a faulty implant but did require surgery were paid about $1,000 each.
The exact number of lawsiuts that will be filed against DePuy is still obscure and it the compensation that the victims would need for their pain, loss and suffering remains a mystery. What is clear is that if you are an ASR recipient, you should undergo a medical evaluation as soon as possible in addition to contacting an experienced product liability attorney to discuss a potential hip replacement lawsuit. For more information and updates, visit the hip replacement recall center.