Hip Replacement Failure’s Untold Numbers Have Yet To Be Reported
Hip replacement is one of the most common procedures in the U.S with an estimated 500,000 metal-on-metal hip replacement device implanted on patients. According to the DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., some 93,000 patients worldwide have used its ASR hip replacement systems, which became the subject of a high-profile recall initiated August of last year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that based on medical studies, a growing number of patients have experienced pain within less than a year of having a hip replacement which means that many more complaints are looming for the procedure. After the lawsuits that were already filed were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, direct filing makes initiating a hip replacement lawsuit easier.
According to a New York Times investigation, about 5,000 complaints on faulty hip implants have been received by the FDA since January and nearly 4,000 of these complaints had patients using the DePuy Articular Surface Replacement (ASR). Representing a large number of plaintiffs affected by the DePuy ASR recall, the Parker McDonald, P.C., a Texas law firm, had expressed concern over the fast growing number of hip system failure. The number of complaints for this year so far is much higher than the number of all complaints received the past four years.
The DePuy ASR hip implant have been approved to last more or less 15 years, however, according to the FDA, medical studies found that more than 1 in 8 patients would have their implant failing within 5 years. A growing number of victims also had their implants lasting only a fraction of that time with some experiencing pain within less than a year. The ASR hip system was marketed and sold by the DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J), as a safe and reliable solution to bone deterioration and mobility complications. In contrast to this assurance, complaints tell a tale of elevated symptoms of pain and hip dislocation and metallosis.
In an effort to avoid the same problem in the future, the FDA implemented new testing requirements for medical device companies and enlisted their own research team to determine the causes of the defective metal-on-metal hip implants. With the number of complaints fast growing the last five years, the hip replacement recall could be the biggest and most expensive medical device issue since Medtronic recalled its Sprint Fidelis lead in 2007. The recall alone could cost DePuy and J&J about $1 billion, according to a New York Times analysis.