THERE IS NOW LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS REMAINING for those affected by the DePuy Hip Recall to lodge a claim.
As many people will be aware, on the 26th August 2010 DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, announced a worldwide recall of two of it’s metal-on-metal hip replacement devices; the ASR XL acetabular total hip replacement and the ASR hip resurfacing system. Both hip implants were recorded as having “higher than expected failure rates”. As matters stand, 3,282 Irish patients were fitted with defective DePuy ASR hip implants. Experts have found “unequivocal evidence” of high failure rates and the ASR total hip implant has now been shown to have a failure rate of up to 50% within six years.
The problems with the two DePuy devices were known long before the recall. In Australia, the National Joint Replacement Registry (NJRR) reported in 2007 that data for the previous year showed that these devices had twice the risk of failure in comparison to similar devices. In 2008, the NJRR re-confirmed that these devices had a much higher than expected failure rate. Again, in 2009, the NJRR found the same failure results. In 2005, just 2 years after these products were put on the market, a DePuy internal memo set out the company’s concerns of health risks from wear debris of metal-on-metal hip implants.
In December 2009 DePuy Orthopaedics withdrew from the Australian market and in March 2010 DePuy issued an alert about the ASR implants. Despite these developments many Irish patients continued to be implanted with the DePuy devices until the recall of the device in Ireland in August 2010.
Those affected by the DePuy Hip Recall are at risk of serious health implications. In my next DePuy blog I will discuss the symptoms in terms of the failure of the DePuy metal-on-metal hip devices.
Remember!! In most cases the deadline for lodging a claim seeking compensation is fast approaching and those affected by the recall need to take precautionary action before the 25th August 2012 to avoid the possibility of your case being out of time. There is a lot of work involved in lodging your claim so the sooner you start the better.
