Legal experts and medical specialists approximate that hip problems may cost billions of dollars in the next years. As a result, there will be an increasing cost of health care. The New York Times published an article predicting that the sum of artificial hips operations would run into the billions.
Various lawsuits have been filed recently by law firms in Australia, UK and the US against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. in behalf of clients who have undergone hip replacement surgeries. DePuy is a subsidiary company of Johnson and Johnson, which issued a worldwide recall of their products.
After information saying that the devices have defectsin one out of eight clients, the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System were withdrawn. There are about 93,000 recipients of these products worldwide. In 2003, these two designs of artificial hip first rolled out of the factory in 2003 and sold to the public.
DePuy took the implants out from the Australian market in December 2009. It also announced the recall of these devices in August 2010, approximately eight months after recalling them in Australia. Between 2008 and the time the recall was issued, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have received hundreds of complaints from ASR recipients, many of whom needed to have a second hip replacement surgery.
According to Dr. Stephen Graves, the director of the National Joint Replacement Registry in Australia, “It is a complete untruth that DePuy did not have reason to withdraw the ASR before now; we have been telling them since 2007, but they allowed it to be used on thousands of people.”
Johnson and Johnson have been charged with compensatory claims by their patrons, legal specialists say. They were the victims of DePuy hip implants failures and defects such as loosening, fractures, and displacements.
The signs of artificial hip device defect include:
• Swelling
• Pain bearing weight
• Pain when rising from a seated position
• Pain while walking
• Pain on the thigh or groin area
• Pain on the hip area
In worse cases, complete failure of hip devices happen, resulting in more serious health problems. This take place when:
• the device is not attached to the bone correctly;
• the unit is dislocated and misaligned;
• the bone around the implant is fractured.
Additionally, the malfunctioning hip devices may create an accumulation of toxic metal into the patient’s bloodstream. Pseudotumors may also be developed in the body tissues.
According to legal observers, the DePuy hip replacement recall should serve as a lesson to other device manufacturers to strengthen and certify the safety of their products.
References:
bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-03/johnson-johnson-sued-over-recalled-implanted-hip-replacement-devices.html
arthritistoday.org/news/asr-depuy-hip-replacement-recall078.php
nursinghomesabuseblog.com/defective-products/defects-with-depuy-hip-replacement-hardware-may-be-responsible-for-complications-following-hip-surgury/
