Roughly half a million Americans have a hip replacement surgery every year. Moreover, a number of people who have had the replacement surgery may have also received a metal-on-metal hip implant device such as the DePuy ASR hip implant system.

DePuy makes and markets  several different hip implant systems that have been implanted in thousands of patients. The company is now subject to a multi-billion dollar settlement of product liability claims related to it ASR implant system, recalled in 2010.

The current Depuy ASR hip settlement covers patients who had to have hip revision surgery due to complications and adverse health effects resulting from the recalled DePuy hip implant.

Complications from the Recalled DePuy Hip Implant

Patients report that severe adverse health effects and complications have resulted from the recalled DePuy hip implant device. According to reports, such metal-on-metal hip replacement systems like DePuy’s ASR hip implant include debilitation and severe complications.

Complications arising from the recalled DePuy hip implant may include the following: early failure of the hip implant device, necessitating revision surgery; the increased risk of cancer due to metallosis, or the leaking of toxic substances into the body’s bloodstream; cardiomyopathy; and non-cancerous tumors that develop surrounding the hip implant medical device, which causes inflammation, pain, swelling, and severe discomfort.

DePuy issued a voluntary recall of DePuy ASR hip implant medical devices in August 2010. The recall consisted of 93,000 DePuy ASR hip implants internationally. Additionally, the recall referred to a study by the UK joint registry, finding that roughly 13% of the recalled DePuy hip implant had required hip revision surgery to correct serious adverse health effects and complications.

Recalled DePuy Hip Implant Lawsuits and the DePuy ASR Settlement

DePuy and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, face 8,000 metal-on-metal product litigation lawsuits pertaining to the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System and the DePuy Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System.

Since 2013, Johnson & Johnson has settled several product litigation lawsuits pertaining to the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System in several different stages of settlements. The first round offered

In August 2013, the company had stated that they would settle and pay each of three DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits for a combined settlement amount of $600,000. The lawsuits were allegedly filed pay patients who were implanted with the recalled DePuy hip implant but had to remove the implant after alleged complications ranging from bone damage, pain, and other serious adverse side effects.

Each plaintiff in that round of settlement received $200,000 from the DePuy ASR hip settlement. Since then, DePuy has dedicated over $4 billion to resolve other claims related to the DePuy ASR implant.