DePuy ASR Hip Implant Replacement Recall Lawsuit

DePuy ASR Hip Implant Replacement | Recall, Lawsuits, Lawyer | Side Effects: Severe Pain and Discomfort, Unexplained Hip Pain, Difficulty Standing or Walking, Loosening of the Hip Implant, Failure of the Hip Implant, Unexplained Hip Pain, Osteolysis, Cobalt Poisoning, Metalosis | Complaints allege design of the Wright Profemur Hip Replacement is defective and prone to early failure

Are you a victim of a DePuy ASR hip implant failure? DePuy Orthopedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson finally agreed to recall DePuy ASR hip implants in August of 2010. This is due to many patients experiencing premature failure of their DePuy ASR hip implant within just few years of their surgery. Thousands of people across the United States were implanted with DePuy Orthopaedic’s defective ASR hip implant replacement system between 2005 and 2010, when it was finally recalled.

Even those patients who haven’t yet experienced problems with their DePuy ASR hip implant face an uncertain future. All individuals who have received a DePuy ASR hip have been advised to contact their surgeon for an evaluation, even if they are not experience problems.

The defective medical device lawyers at Gilman Law LLP are reviewing potential hip replacement lawsuits on behalf of individuals who received the DePuy ASR hip implant, that has been recalled, which has caused thousands of people to experience devastating pain and the need for additional hip surgery.

Complications from DePuy ASR hip implants could include:

• Unexplained Hip Pain
• Loosening of the DePuy ASR Hip
• Hip Failure
• Additional Hip Replacement or Revision Surgery
• Osteolysis

DePuy Hip Implant Replacement Recall

DePuy Orthopaedics in August 2010 recalled its ASR replacement hip system for approximately 93,000 defective implants after data had confirmed that the device has an unreasonably high rate of hip implant failure, often requiring patients who received the device to undergo a second surgery to revise the original hip replacement.

This is because the DePuy ASR replacement hip system’s components can come loose, fracturing the bone around the implant, causing metallosis, the depositing of metal fragments in the bloodstream, also called cobaltism and causing pseudotumors.

Data from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales found that the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System had a 12% revision rate and the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System had a revision rate of 13%.

The DePuy ASR Acetabular Cup System first came on the market in 2005. It was cleared by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) via a process known as 510(k) approval. This 510(k) approval process allows a manufacturer to obtain market approval with very little clinical testing of the device – including no human testing – if a manufacturer can prove it is “substantially similar” to another product already on the market. In 2010, an internal FDA review – ironically released shortly after the DePuy ASR hip implant recall was issued – found numerous flaws with the 510(k) process, prompting the agency to consider changing it.

But by 2008, more than 300 reports of problems with the hip implant had been received by the FDA, most required revision surgery due to premature failure. A hip implant should last for about 15 years, depending on use, but just after a few years after implantation many DePuy ASR hip implant recipients were undergoing new surgeries. Watch the following video for a brief summary of the DePuy hip replacement lawsuit issues.

DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit Video Summary

Osteolysis Bone Loss Disease

The harmful side effects of a hip implant failing due to wear includes Osteolysis, Metalosis, or Cobalt Poisoning.

The harmful side effects of a hip implant failing due to wear include Osteolysis, Metallosis, or Cobalt Poisoning.

Osteolysis involves wear particles (worn off the contact surface of the artificial ball and socket joint). As the body attempts to clean up these wear particles (typically consisting of plastic or metal) it triggers an autoimmune reaction which causes resorption of living bone tissue. Osteolysis has been reported to occur as early as 12 months after implantation and is usually progressive. This may require a revision surgery (replacement of the prosthesis).

Other problems due to the wearing down of metal-on-metal implants are Metallosis and Cobalt Poisoning.

Metallosis And Defective Hip Replacements

In light of recent hip implant recalls, surgeons have come forward to reveal high failure rates in many large diaphragm metal-on-metal implants, and the significant damage they cause by way of metal wear debris. Metal wear debris has been found to cause soft tissue damage in and around the hip joint. Many studies suggest this is caused by both direct killing of the tissue, and also by a stimulation of an inflammatory process. Often patients who have been implanted with large diaphragm metal-on-metal hip implants have discovered pseudo-tumors growing in the tissue surrounding the metal hip. These benign tumors are growths of pus and scar tissue resulting from this inflammatory process that has occurred in response to the foreign object implanted in the body.

Cobalt Poisoning And Defective Hip Replacements

The use of cobalt in metal-on-metal implants and the wear of these implants causing metallosis can result in cobalt poisoning.

Legal Help for Victims of the DePuy ASR Hip Implant Recall

The DePuy ASR hip lawyers at Gilman Law LLP are reviewing potential hip replacement injury lawsuits and hip replacement class action lawsuits for patients of the DePuy ASR hip implant. To have your case reviewed by one of our DePuy ASR Hip Implant Replacement Recall lawyers, for a free consultation and claim evaluation, please fill out the online form on the left or call Toll Free at 1-888-252-0048.

News from around the web concerning “DePuy Hip Replacement Recall News”

• The US Drug Watchdog Now Calls Its Recalled DePuy ASR Hip Implant Recipients … – PR Web (press release)
• National Law Firm Files Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit on Behalf of … – PR Web (press release)
• New Lawsuit on DePuy ASR Hip Replacement: Severe Adverse Events – Albany Times Union
• ASR Hip Implant Cup System Lawsuits – InjuryBoard.com
• Judge Issues New Orders in Federal DePuy Pinnacle Litigation – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
• Parker Waichman LLP Files Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit on Behalf of … – PR Web (press release)
• Parker Waichman LLP Reports on New Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement Study Tying … – PR Web (press release)
• New Lawsuit Alleges Severe Wright Hip Replacement Adverse Events – Albany Times Union
• Parker Waichman LLP Reports DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuits Moving Forward, as … – PR Web (press release)
• Depositions In Federal DePuy ASR Litigation Continue Over Recalled Hip … – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

News from around the web concerning “Depuy Hip Replacement Lawsuits”

• Kershaw Cutter & Ratinoff Prepares for First DePuy ASR Trial – PR Web (press release)
• Ky. weighed politics, medicine in inmate's surgery – Fox News
• Robert Foley's Death Row Hip Replacement Debated Among Kentucky Prison Officials – Huffington Post
• Wright ProFemur Hip Replacement Lawsuit Continues – Accident Injury Lawyer (blog)
• National Law Firm Files Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement Lawsuit on Behalf of … – PR Web (press release)
• New Lawsuit on DePuy ASR Hip Replacement: Severe Adverse Events – Albany Times Union
• Health Canada Issues Metal Hip Replacement Warning On Metal Hip Implant Side … – San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
• DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuits Filed Reaches 6000 – DrugWatch.com
• New Lawsuit Alleges Severe Wright Hip Replacement Adverse Events – Albany Times Union
• First DePuy Hip Replacement Lawsuit Trial To Start In December – DrugWatch.com