On September 9, 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics issued a DePuy recall of two of its hip implants: the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System. The ASR Hip Resurfacing System was only sold outside of the United States, but the ASR XL Acetabular System was sold worldwide. If you have received a defective ASR hip that was recalled, then a DePuy ASR lawsuit is an option.
How do I know if I am subject to the DePuy ASR Recall?
The DePuy hip recall encompasses the DePuy Orthopaedics ASR XL Acetabular System and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System. These two hip systems became available in July 2003. If you had hip surgery before July 2003, then your hip replacement is not on the recall list. If you had hip replacement surgery after July 2003, you should contact your surgeon or the hospital where the surgery was done and ask if you received the DePuy ASR hip. The manufacturer does not keep a list of patients who received its hip products.
What can I sue for?
In a DePuy ASR lawsuit, you can allege a number of things. You can sue for DePuy’s failure to warn of the high rate of failures of its ASR hip replacement systems, strict liability for a defective product, breach of warranty, and the negligent design, manufacture, and labeling of the devices.
The first DePuy lawsuit hip claim was brought by Kathleen Margenau in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, Florida, in June 2010. She received the ASR hip implant in March 2008 and alleged that she began experiencing pain and weakness in her hip and quadriceps immediately. Just over a year after her hip replacement surgery, Ms. Margenau suffered what her doctor called a “catastrophic failure” and the hip device was replaced with another artificial hip system from a different manufacturer.
More recently, a Georgia resident has filed a DePuy ASR lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., and Johnson and Johnson, its parent company, over his defective ASR hip device. The man, Virgil Lewis, claims that he received a DePuy ASR Acetabular Cup in a total hip replacement surgery, and that he experienced pain and extreme weakness in his hip and quadriceps despite his wounds healing perfectly. Lewis claims that he will continue to suffer an increased risk of long term complications, pain and additional corrective surgeries because of the defective product.
Why was the DePuy ASR Recall implemented?
The DePuy hip recall was issued because data it received showed that five years after the hip was implanted, 12% of patients who had received the ASR Resurfacing System and 13% of patients who received the ASR total hip replacement needed to have it replaced. This replacement surgery is called revision surgery. If you are among the patients who received a defective ASR hip replacement, then you should contact an attorney for the latest DePuy recall news.
