DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., the manufacturer of ASR hip implant products, face a products liability litigation alleging the making and implantation of a defective metal-on-metal artificial hip replacement device.

According to the DePuy lawsuit, plaintiff Jesse M., and Janice M. filed the allegations in Ohio federal court. The lawsuit alleges that Jesse M. was implanted with the allegedly defective device on June 5, 2008 at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.

According to the lawsuit, however, the plaintiff later suffered from pain, stiffness and weakness. Jesse required ASR hip revision surgery because, he claims, the product had “negatively affected plaintiff’s mobility and quality of life.”

The ASR hip revision lawsuit states, “plaintiff’s ability to perform normal physical activities has been and will be consequently limited. Plaintiff suffers from anxiety about the recalled hip implant, the toxicity of the metal in the body, and the consequent need for medical monitoring.”

He had later had the ASR hip implant device removed on March 9, 2017.

The DePuy lawsuit further contends that the plaintiff could not have known of the potential harm and adverse effects suffered from the product’s implantation, as the product had been recalled off the market after he had been implanted with the ASR hip implant.

Moreover, the lawsuit contends, “the plaintiff could not have known that he/she was injured by excessive levels of chromium and cobalt until after the date he/she had his/her blood drawn and he/she was advised of the results of said blood-work.”

The ASR Hip Revision Lawsuit Facts

DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, Inc.

The ASR Hip implant is a popular metal-on-metal hip implant device. It has, however, been the center of multiple products liability lawsuits, which includes multiple reports of adverse health effects suffered by patients and hundreds of required ASR hip revision surgeries.

The DePuy hip replacement device is a single cup and socket piece. The issue with the medical hip implant device is its metal-on-metal design, which can shed particles of chromium and cobalt metal nto the surrounding tissue.

Allegedly, patients are implanted with the metal device but soon after suffer from adverse effects such as metallosis, or metal poisoning, when the chromium and cobalt that comprise the medical device is leaked into the patient’s bloodstream.

Other metal-on-metal hip complications include the development of pseudotumors in the tissue surrounding the hip implant device, loss of bone strength, and degenerative heart disease or cardiomyopathy.

Patients suffering from debilitating pain, bone damage, and other metal-on-metal hip complications have had to undergo ASR hip revision surgery at a higher rate than that originally expected.

Reports also show that in 2010, DePuy received an announcement from the UK joint registry advising that ASR patients were having to undergo a premature second hip replacement surgery, and that 13% of such implants had required revision surgery due to debilitating pain and complications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that the DePuy Orthopaedics voluntarily recalled roughly 93,000 DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing Systems and ASR XL Acetabular Hip Systems in every country where the metal-on-metal device was sold.

The ASR Hip Revision Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-dp-20042-JJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.