Lawsuit Over Recalled DePuy ASR Hips Filed by 13 from Illinois and Indiana

A state court DePuy ASR hip lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 13 people from Illinois and Indiana who claim that they received a recalled metal-on-metal hip implant made by DePuy Orthopaedics that subsequently had to be replaced as a result of design defects. 

The lawsuit over the recalled DePuy ASR hips was filed last month in Champaign County Court in Illinois. It is one of a growing number of product liability lawsuits filed against DePuy and their parent company, Johnson & Johnson, in state and federal courts throughout the United States following a DePuy hip recall issued in August.

Approximately 93,000 DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System implants and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System implants were recalled after data suggested that about one out of every 8 people who received one of the devices may experience problems with their DePuy ASR hip within five years after implant, with many requiring risky hip revision surgery to replace the metal-on-metal artificial hip.

While a handful of lawsuits over the hip implant were filed prior to the recall, the number of claims has increased dramatically as individuals return to their doctors for a re-evaluation and discover that they are experiencing complications from the DePuy metal hip. Although the recall does not mean that all implants must be replaced, doctors are encouraging all patients to return for an evaluation to determine whether the hip replacement is functioning as it is supposed to.

The complaint filed in Illinois raises similar allegations to those found in other lawsuits over the DePuy ASR hip recall, indicating that the manufacturer failed to adequately test the metal-on-metal hip system and failed to immediately issue a recall when it became apparent that the failure rate was higher-than-expected. Plaintiffs allege that the defective design of the DePuy ASR hip has caused them to incur additional medical expenses, suffer severe pain and, in some cases, undergo additional surgery to revise or replace the ASR hip.

The DePuy ASR is a metal-on-metal hip replacement system developed in 2005. Health care professionals have increasingly been warning about problems with metal-on-metal hip implants, which can shed metal particles into the body. The particles can damage soft tissue, cause inflammatory reactions and lead to bone loss. The DePuy ASR hip failures appear to be linked to a defective design of the acetabular cup, which is shallower than acetabular cups made by other companies, making it prone to problems.

In federal court, a motion has been filed with the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate and centralize the DePuy ASR recall litigation before one judge for coordinate pre-trial proceedings. As of September 3, when the motion was filed, there were at least five lawsuits over recalled DePuy ASR hip implants pending in five different federal district courts throughout the United States. However, as DePuy hip replacement lawyers continue to review and investigate potential cases for individuals who received one of the recalled implants, it is expected that hundreds, if not thousands, of cases will be filed in different states.