A new DePuy ASR hip lawsuit has been registered in federal court as of Sept. 5, 2018.

The DePuy ASR hip lawsuit was filed by plaintiff Terry M., a citizen and resident of Wisconsin. Terry alleges he is a 52-year old former bilateral hip implant recipient. Due to the complications with the prosthetic units, he says he is entitled to damages from named defendant and manufacturer, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson Inc., and related agencies.

Terry joins Ohio-based multidistrict litigation (MDL) No. 2197 with this legal action. The MDL consists of a group of other litigants with similar complaints against the same product funneled to one district of the federal court system for judicial efficiency.

The Plaintiff’s Story

According to his DePuy ASR hip lawsuit, Terry had his left hip replaced first on July 7, 2007. The surgery was performed at Viroqua Center for Orthopaedic Surgery by Dr. Jeffery Lawrence in Wisconsin. The diseased hip joint was replaced with a DePuy ASR hip prosthetic unit.

Less than six months later on Dec. 19, 2007, Terry says he was readmitted to the same facility to have his right hip replaced with another DePuy ASR hip prosthetic unit. This surgery was also performed by the same orthopedic surgeon.

In the DePuy ASR hip lawsuit narrative, Terry says that it was just a week shy of ten years later, on Dec. 12, 2017, that Terry had to have the first of both hip prosthetic units removed from the left side of his pelvic cage. This procedure was completed at Vernon Memorial Healthcare in Viroqua.

Terry claims that he suffered immeasurable pain and overall discomfort as a result of the failure of the ASR hip product. Additionally, he lists emotional distress, bodily disfigurement, and economic damages because of the revision surgery.

His DePuy ASR hip lawsuit claims that the high costs of physician care and hospitalization, as well as rehabilitation and outpatient medical monitoring presented numerous financial challenges.

The complainant states that he could not have known that the pain and discomfort he was experiencing was connected to a defect in the prosthetic until he heard about the DePuy ASR hip recall. He claims he also couldn’t have known that he suffered from metallosis, or cobalt and chromium metal blood poisoning, prior to having his levels checked.

With his legal action, he is bringing 23 counts against the defendants. He is asking for compensatory, statutory, and punitive damages to be assessed according to evidence presented at trial.

The DePuy ASR Hip Recall

In August 2010, the defendants reportedly issued a voluntary product recall a year and half after the first DePuy ASR hip lawsuit was filed. Johnson & Johnson noted that they recognized that approximately 12 percent of ASR recipients later had to be subjected to revision surgeries to have the product removed. This percentage was by their estimation over the statistical norm for a prosthetic failure rate.

The DePuy Orthopaedics Lawsuit is Case No. 1:18-dp-20072-JJH in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.