DePuy Hip Recall Class Action Suit Filed in Australia

A class action lawsuit over the recalled DePuy ASR hip implant has been filed in Australia on behalf of 5,000 people due to design defects with the metal-on-metal hip replacement which may cause individuals to experience problems with their artificial hip within a few years after it is implanted. 

The DePuy hip recall class action suit was filed this week in Sydney Federal Court on behalf of lead plaintiff Tammy Stanford, who received a DePuy hip replacement in 2005, but had to undergo revision surgery in January. Doctors discovered that the bone in the area of the implant had degenerated and that Stanford suffered an inflamed hip joint and tissue.

DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, ceased sales of its ASR metal hip implant line in Australia, the United States and other countries in late 2009 and early 2010. However, it did not announce a DePuy ASR hip recall until August 2010, citing U.K. reports of high rates of hip replacement failure.

More than 90,000 DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Systems and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems were sold before the hip implants were recalled, and the manufacturers have acknowledged that data so far has shown that about 12% to 13% of these hips may fail within five years. However, as individuals with one of the recalled hip replacements continue to be monitored by their doctors, it is expected that the DePuy ASR failure rate will ultimately be much higher.

According to a national joint replacement registry in Australia, about 5,000 Australians received the ASR metal hip systems between 2003 and 2009. The Australian DePuy hip class action lawsuit seeks compensations for personal injury, pain and suffering, and economic damages.

In the United States, a growing number of individuals who received one of the ASR implants have filed a DePuy hip recall lawsuit, alleging that problems they experienced were caused by defects with the design. In addition, several DePuy ASR class action lawsuits have been filed in the United States to force DePuy to pay for necessary tests and medical monitoring that will be required for anyone who has one of the hip implants.

The complaints all contain similar allegations, that DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson failed to warn doctors that problems with the design of the metal-on-metal hip implant may increase the risk of tiny metal particles being shed into the body as the metal parts wear against each other. These metal ions can then work their way into the surrounding tissue or even into the blood stream.

Earlier this month, the FDA warned that similar problems may impact other metal-on-metal hip replacement systems. The metal ions, usually cobalt or chromium, can damage bone and tissue around the implant and joint, causing the implant to become loose or causing the patient to feel pain. In addition, the particles can have negative effects on the heart, nervous system and thyroid when in the bloodstream at high levels.