Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy ASR hip implant, a popular metal-on-metal artificial hip replacement device, faces a windstorm of litigation following the medical device’s recall in August 2010. The DePuy ASR hip implant is also the subject of a large ASR hip settlement that now covers patients who have had a hip replacement surgery done but have undergone a hip revision surgery since March 2015.

DePuy Orthopaedics is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, a multinational medical devices company and pharmaceutical manufacturer. They were founded in 1886, and headquartered in New Brunswick, NJ.

According to reports, roughly half a million Americans have had a hip replacement surgery. And of these surgeries, multitudes of people may have also had a Depuy ASR hip implant inserted.

The DePuy ASR hip replacement system is a single cup and socket piece. Its metal-on-metal design has been implicated in thousands of lawsuits since its introduction in 2005, due to reports of severe and debilitating complications.

ASR Hip Settlement Facts

As of today, roughly 8,000 metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuits have been filed against Johnson & Johnson due to its alleged defective DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the DePuy Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System.

The first few hip implant lawsuits filed against Johnson & Johnson regarding the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System were previously settled by the manufacturer. Moreover, the defendants have also opted to settle lawsuits in August 2012, offering a total of $600,000. The three ASR lawsuits had been filed by the plaintiffs alleging that they had been implanted by the DePuy ASR Hip artificial device, but had to undergo revision surgery after suffering debilitating pain, bone damage, and other adverse metal-on-metal hip complications.

The ASR hip settlement included that each plaintiff would receive $200,000, allegedly, the lower end of the spectrum of where Johnson & Johnson is expected to pay out. Attorneys familiar with the litigation say the average settlement payment amount should roughly be between $200,000-$500,000 dollars.

The current ASR hip settlement was recently expanded to include patients who underwent hip revision surgery after March 2015.

ASR Hip Settlement Complications

Patients may have a legal claim and maybe eligible to become a part of an ASR hip settlement if they received a DePuy ASR hip replacement, or metal-on-metal artificial hip device, but have had to undergo hip revision surgery.

Some of the problems that have reportedly resulted from the implantation of the artificial hip device include: cobalt poisoning, tissue death for surrounding implant tissue; the leaking of toxic substances into the bloodstream, such as cobalt or chromium, and the loss of bone strength or bone fractures.

Some of the metal-on-metal complications include an elevated cancer risk that occurs due to the leaking of the toxic substances from the metal-on-metal device. Other complications include risks of patients suffering from cardiomyopathy, or degenerative heart disease.

Patients may also face an increased likelihood of having to undergo revision surgery because of the defective medical device and the generation of non-cancerous tumors that surround the hip implant location. Some adverse effects of this include severe comfort and inflammation.