A group of Australians have filed a massive metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuit against medical device giant, Johnson & Johnson, parent company of DePuy Orthopaedics.
The group of more than 1,000 has joined a multi-million dollar class action lawsuit over DePuy Orthopaedics’ all-metal devices, said Courier Mail. The devices have been linked to early failure rates and a host of adverse health reactions. The class action has been filed in the Federal Court in Sydney and is just one of many legal actions, worldwide, against DePuy Orthopaedics and Johnson & Johnson.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate the claim at more than $200 million, according to Courier Mail.
One plaintiff, Stuart Cain, 42, received a DePuy hip in June, 2007. Since, DePuy recalled two all-metal versions of its ASR hip devices over early failure rates and Mr. McCain has undergone three revision surgeries to replace the faulty hip; however, metal residue from the DePuy hip, “killed off my femur,” Cain told Courier Mail. “I’ve had to stop work,” added Cain, a nurse educator. “I’ve taken leave without pay.”
While Johnson and Johnson has paid for Cain’s three replacement hip implant surgeries—the most recent just about one month ago—he is concerned he will lose his house in addition to his lost income. “My wife can’t work because she’s got to look after me,” he told Courier Mail.
Cain is just one of many patients who have reported device failure and health effects so severe that they have been forced to leave their jobs; have been rendered homebound; and must contend with debilitating physical reactions, terrible pain, and reduced physical abilities, to name just a few.
The first trials against DePuy Orthopaedics by patients who received recalled DePuy ASR hip implants are scheduled to begin late this year and in early 2013. The first case is scheduled for December 3, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada state court. A second DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in Maryland State Court next January. These two lawsuits are just two of thousands of product liability lawsuits filed by patients who were implanted with DePuy metal-on-metal hip implants.
The defective devices were the subject of a DePuy ASR Hip Implant recall in August 2010. The DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Hip Implant and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System were recalled following release of information from a medical device registry in the U.K. that said the devices were failing in about 12% of patients within five years.
Most DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits have been filed by U.S. plaintiffs and are pending in a multidistrict litigation in the Northern District of Ohio. Those lawsuits scheduled to come to trial later this year and in early January and are among 10 that have been allowed to remain in state courts.
