Was Your Hip Implant Affected by the ASR DePuy Recall?

After a 2010 ASR DePuy recall, more and more hip implant patients are coming forward claiming that they have experienced serious side effects of defective implants. Indeed, many patients claim that their metal-on-metal implants can cause metallosis, a kind of metal poisoning, along with a number of other serious complications.

DePuy ASR Hip Implant Devices

One of the most common surgical procedures in the United States is hip replacement, with thousands of American patients getting hip implants each year. Many of these surgeries use devices known as metal-on-metal implants, that is, with metal components set directly next to each other.

One of the more popular metal-on-metal devices is the DePuy ASR hip implant, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and entered the market in 2005.

Unfortunately, in the years since its approval, the device and other metal-on-metal implants have been linked with a number of significant side effects. For some, side effects were severe enough that they had to undergo revision surgery to remove the device.

Complications from metal-on-metal implants may include:

• Metallosis
• High rate of failure
• Dislocation
• Device dissociation
• Degenerative heart disease (cardiomyopathy)
• Bone fracture
• Tissue death
• Cancer

A more expansive list of possible DePuy ASR hip implant side effects can be found on our investigation page.

Complications associated with the DePuy device led to the eventual ASR DePuy recall in 2010, five years after its approval.

The ASR DePuy Recall

On Aug.t 4, 2010, an ASR DePuy recall was issued affecting a massive number of implants in use all across the country.

The ASR DePuy recall affected about 93,000 hip implants around the globe, roughly a third of which were distributed in the U.S.

Because of the ASR DePuy recall, thousands of patients have filed lawsuits against DePuy, alleging that their implants were affected by the same defects that led to the recall, and that they have suffered complications as a result.

Some lawsuits allege that the DePuy ASR device did not undergo the normal rigorous FDA approval process. Instead, the devices skipped going through clinical trials altogether. Patients claim that the use of this loophole led to serious device defects that caused them actual harm.

DePuy (and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson) is currently facing around 8,000 lawsuits, and have already agreed to pay a substantial amount in litigation surrounding these devices. A settlement has been reached that benefits patients who had to undergo revision surgery for their hip implants since March 2015.

Filing a DePuy Hip Implant Lawsuit

If you were implanted with a DePuy ASR device and have since suffered from these or other complications, necessitating revision surgery, you may be able to file a lawsuit.

While pursuing litigation cannot take away the pain and suffering caused by device side effects, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden from medical expenses and lost wages.