The number of people filing a lawsuit over recalled DePuy ASR hip replacements has grown quickly in the weeks following a decision to consolidate the federal litigation.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to consolidate the DePuy hip recall litigation on December 3rd, assigning all cases filed in courts throughout the United States to Judge David A. Katz in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
At the time the DePuy hip lawsuits were consolidated, there were seven cases transferred to Judge Katz. According to a Conditional Transfer Order filed December 15, in the two weeks since the MDL Panel issued their order, an additional 96 DePuy ASR lawsuits filed in 34 different federal district courts throughout the country were identified. Those cases are also being transferred to Judge Katz’s court for handling during pretrial litigation as part of the multidistrict litigation (MDL).
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Learn MoreAll of the complaints contain similar allegations that DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, manufactured and sold defective metal-on-metal hip implants, and say that the company failed to warn doctors and patients of the higher-than-acceptable risk that the implants would fail. Many say that the company failed to immediately issue a recall after it became apparent that users were experiencing a higher-than-expected rate of DePuy ASR hip problems.
In August, a DePuy hip recall was issued for the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System after the manufacturer acknowledged that the systems had 13% and 12% failure rates, respectively. However, some DePuy recall lawyers suggest the failure rate quoted by DePuy may be conservative, and many more people are likely to be affected by the defective hip replacements.
Consolidation of the DePuy hip litigation before one judge as part of an MDL is designed to reduce duplicative discovery, avoid contradictory rulings from different judges and to serve the convenience of the court, witnesses and parties. While the pretrial management of the cases in an MDL is often managed similar to how a class action for the DePuy hip recall would be handled, each claim will still remain an individual lawsuit.
If an agreement to settle the DePuy hip lawsuits is not reached following pretrial proceedings and any bellwether jury trials, each of the consolidated cases would be subject to remand back to the jurisdiction where they were originally filed for trial.
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.
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6 Comments
LisaApril 26, 2015 at 7:38 pm
PLEASE PLEASE RECALL THE S-ROM & THE PRODIGY STEM. IVE HAD BOTH AND THEY WERE BOTH FAILURES. AS I TYPE I SIT HER WITH A PRODIGY STEM BROKEN IN HALF INSIDE MY FEMUR AND I FACE SERIOUS SURGERY WITH PROBABLE BONE DESTRUCTION JUST TO GET LOWER HALF OF STEM... Please please help us.
steveMarch 4, 2011 at 4:28 am
The s-rom total hip with the metal on metal design should be part of the recall. The acetabular cup is the exact same as the asr and has caused me and my family years of pain and suffering. Why is the ASR and not the S-ROM recalled this is a real bad situation for anyone who has a S-ROM total hip nightmare. The non cemented metal on metal design is the exact same design please answer this for me I[Show More]The s-rom total hip with the metal on metal design should be part of the recall. The acetabular cup is the exact same as the asr and has caused me and my family years of pain and suffering. Why is the ASR and not the S-ROM recalled this is a real bad situation for anyone who has a S-ROM total hip nightmare. The non cemented metal on metal design is the exact same design please answer this for me IT MAKES NO SENCE. I have suffered since 2002 and must take heavy doses of pain medication do to the "CHRONIC PAIN" caused by the flawed S-ROM HIP WITH THE ACETABULAR SHELL. Also what about the metal fliber that are being exposed to our blood exactly like the asr I do believe the entire focus should be on the acetabular cup/shell non cemented this is where the problem is most evident in both the asr and the s-rom systems. PLEASE help out this cause the S-ROM SYSTEM SHOULD BE RECALLED AS WELL AS THE ASR SYSTEMS.
karranJanuary 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm
i think we should be albe to represent ourselves for all the suffering i have experienced , i can't imagine paying an attorney 45 percent, they need to make some kind of law against this, it is greed and a sin. you alre going to do all the work anyway, i have suffered since oct. 08, not the attorney. sometimes you wonder am i still living in America. i hope this judge sends out a message and tel[Show More]i think we should be albe to represent ourselves for all the suffering i have experienced , i can't imagine paying an attorney 45 percent, they need to make some kind of law against this, it is greed and a sin. you alre going to do all the work anyway, i have suffered since oct. 08, not the attorney. sometimes you wonder am i still living in America. i hope this judge sends out a message and tells us just exactly how to represent ourselves....... that is while we still have a brain left from all the metal entering our bodies.......
JimJanuary 6, 2011 at 9:05 pm
I had the following S-ROM components implanted 2-22-06; from the operative report: 20x15x165 36 standard neck, +8 lateral stem, with a 20 F XXL sleeve, a 36mm Ultamet, witha 58-mm Pinnacle sector II acetabular cup with no screws, a 36-mm + 9 head. Are any of these components part of the recall?
JuergenDecember 21, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Are you also interested in DePuy Pinnacle Sector II Metal-on-Metal victims?
bcuzDecember 21, 2010 at 5:34 pm
What about the ASR Hip Implants that are not metal to metal, but just the same, had to be replaced? What are we to do? How will we be compensated, even though, they are also failing. Do we just forget about it, because of the Judge's ruling has decided to limited the Liability. What about us? Where or who do we go to for justice?