DePuy ASR Hip Lawsuits

DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, is facing numerous personal injury and defective metal on metal hip product claims in state and federal courts. The first of these suits is due to start today in Maryland.

Additionally, thousands of lawsuits are pending in multidistrict litigation in U.S. District Court of Northern District of Ohio. Court documents show the first trial in the federal dePuy ASR hip litigation is slated to start on May 6, 2013 followed by another trial on July 8, 2013.

FDA Investigates

The safety of metal-on-metal hip implants, like the DePuy ASR, is being reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Medical experts have raised concern that the metal particles released by these devices can lead to heavy metal poisoning.

J&J began to phase out both of their ASR hip replacement systems in August 2010, after data compiled by the National Joint Registry of England and Wales suggested that the five-year failure rate linked to these devices was 13 percent (about 1 in 8 patients). At the time of the recall, more than 93,000 of the two hip systems had been implanted in people worldwide.

DePuy Settlements

To this date, there have been 3 DePuy ASR lawsuits settled for confidential amounts. Many are moving forward. It’s not too late to seek legal advice from an experienced attorney or to file a lawsuit if you have suffered injury due to a DePuy metal-on-metal device.