Lawsuits Against DePuy Hip Implant Manufacturer Grow

Phoenix, Arizona—Lawsuits against DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, continue to be filed by patients who received the company's defectively manufactured hip replacement devices. Earlier this month, about a dozen Tennessee residents sued the manufacturer in the U.S. District Court in Nashville.

Today, a Scottsdale, Arizona woman, Jacqueline Chamberlain, sued Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics in the San Francisco, California Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturers sold the ASR™ XL Acetabular System for more than five years, while receiving and concealing repeated warnings of aberrantly high failure rates.

Last August, DePuy voluntarily recalled its ASR™ XL Acetabular System hip replacement after a report published in the United Kingdom revealed that an abnormally large number of patients needed corrective surgery within five years of implantation.

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began receiving complaints about the DePuy devices in 2008. Medical experts say that the DePuy hip replacement cup is too shallow, and that it is more difficult for surgeons to implant than is the case with other similar prosthetic hip implants.

We represent Jacqueline Chamberlain and a number of other DePuy patients who have been affected by these defective devices. Initial estimates suggested that as many as 11,000 people may eventually require surgery to remove and replace the defective implants. As surgeons monitor the defective devices, we believe those numbers may increase substantially.

Even those patients who are presently free of symptoms should consult their physicians for evaluation. All should be monitored for as long as their DePuy implants are in place.

DePuy has offered to assist patients with the costs of additional medical care, but I recommend against dealing directly with the company. The limitations and strings attached to DePuy's plan are greatly inadequate. Furthermore, participants in the company program are required to sign medical release forms giving wide access to their confidential medical records.

All DePuy hip implant patients should consult a lawyer who handles these cases. It is important to do so even if you and your surgeon have elected just to monitor the implant and not remove the defective device.

CHAMBERLAIN v. JOHNSON & JOHNSON SERVICES, INC. et al.
Reference: California Superior Court, San Francisco County, Case No, CGC-11-507615