A North Carolina man filed a metal hip lawsuit against DePuy, alleging that the company manufactured a defective hip implant that left him with severe complications.

Plaintiff Don Johnson filed the metal hip lawsuit against DePuy, a subsidiary of medical giant Johnson & Johnson, alleging the company is responsible for manufacturing defective artificial hip joints.

Most artificial hip joints are made with ceramic, polymer, or even ivory, in very old implants. However, in the 2000s, a number of companies began to produce metal-on-metal hip implants, where the moving surfaces of the joints were made of metal alloys. Allegedly, metal-on-metal implants have had problems not seen in the other types of hip implants.

According to his metal hip lawsuit, Johnson suffered a series of painful complications after he received his metal-on-metal hip implant during his hip replacement surgery to replace his failed hip joint.

The metal hip complications include pain, clicking and popping noises coming from his replaced hip, and others. According to his metal-on-metal hip lawsuit, he may soon require revision surgery to repair the joint.

Hip revision surgery is a more complex procedure than an initial hip implant. This is partially because patients requiring a second surgery typically have suffered complications that may complicate the procedure. However, it is also because all hip implants require surgeons to cut away part of the original hip bone to accommodate the hip implant. If a surgeon has to perform hip revision surgery, there is much less of the original bone for surgeons to work with, making it a more technically complex procedure.

Johnson’s metal hip lawsuit alleges that metal hip implants are more dangerous than other types of artificial hip joints. Postmarket surveillance has reported cases like Johnson’s, and mass legal action has been initiated against the makers of various metal hip implants, including DePuy. Additionally, several manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip implants have ultimately recalled their devices, including DePuy.

The makers of metal hip implants like DePuy were able to exploit part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process, a program called the 501(k) program. The 501(k) program allows the makers of medical implants like metal-on-metal hip implants to skip certain steps of the FDA approval process, since they are built on existing technologies. However, Johnson’s metal hip lawsuit alleges that this amounted to negligence, as it allowed a defective metal-on-metal hip implant to ultimately wind up in his body.

The Metal Hip Implant Lawsuit is Don Johnson v. Johnson & Johnson Service Inc., et al., Case No. 3:14-cv-03258-K, within the larger DePuy Metal Hip Implant MDL In re: DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., Pinnacle Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2244, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.