A South Carolina patient has joined a multidistrict litigation claiming that the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant is defective in its design and causes injury.

Plaintiffs Wesley and Gladys W. say that Wesley had a hip replacement surgery on his right hip on or about June 26, 2008, in South Carolina, and during this surgery, he was fitted with a DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant. The couple claims that the device was defective, because the metal components of the device rubbed on one another in such a way that caused metal fragments to fret off into Wesley’s body, causing him to develop an infection, elevating the levels of metal in his blood, causing the device to wear incorrectly and make movement difficult.

He says that he discovered that the device had fretted metal fragments into his body when he had blood work done after his hip replacement surgery, which revealed that the levels of metal in his blood were elevated.

Wesley and Gladys say that Wesley’s physical injuries, in turn, caused them to suffer loss of consortium, affecting their marital relationship. The couple seeks to hold DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, the companies that produce the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant label for their injuries, and seek compensation for these injuries and seek punitive damages against the companies.

They claim that DePuy and Johnson & Johnson knew that the device was defective and dangerous, and intentionally concealed that information from patients and medical professionals so that they could continue to profit from the sale of the device. Allegedly, the companies marked the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant as safe and effective, and intentionally deceived the public about the device’s true nature.

DePuy Metal-On-Metal Hip Implant Investigation

Wesley and Gladys are just two of many people that claim that DePuy and Johnson & Johnson knowingly concealed the fact that the DePuy hip implant is dangerous and defective in its design. Many patients claim that the companies knew that the metal-on-metal design was ineffective and likely to cause patient injury but sold it anyway.

Patients allege that the companies received “fast track” FDA approval for the DePuy metal-on-metal hip implant based on their claim that the device was “substantially similar” to devices on the market, so they are able to gain approval for the device and release it on to the market without doing significant testing on the device’s performance and health impact.

However, many patients say that metal-on-metal devices have not been used regularly since the 1970s precisely because they have a high likelihood of the two pieces wearing together in such a way that causes metal fragments to fret off from the device and into a patient’s body, causing potential infection and tissue death.

They claim that DePuy’s “fast-track” approval was based on similarities to hip implants that used a metal-on-plastic, not a metal-on-metal design, which performs much differently, and does not cause the same health problems, and the research on the safety of these devices dates back to the 1970s, as that was the last time the devices were regularly used.

The DePuy ASR Metal-On-Metal Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-dp-20070-JJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.