An Illinois patient and his wife have filed a lawsuit against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., claiming that the DePuy ASR hip implant device used in the man’s hip replacement caused him injury due to a design defect.

Plaintiff William H. and his wife Kathryn H. say that William had a hip replacement on his left hip on or around Jan. 14, 2009, and was implanted with the DePuy ASR hip replacement system. Allegedly, he suffered injuries on or around December 2017; he claims they were caused by the ASR hip implant.

The couple argues that the makers of the implant, DePuy, knew or should have known that the device was defective in its design, but represented it as if it were safe and effective. William’s ASR hip implant lawsuit is just one lawsuit in a multidistrict litigation claiming that the ASR hip implant is defective and caused injury.

The companies, DePuy and parent company Johnson & Johnson, have faced litigation in the U.S. and abroad over their allegedly defective hip implants. Additionally, they are facing litigation over other metal-on-metal hip designs, like the Pinnacle hip.

Metal Hip Complications

According to William, the fact that the ASR hip implant is made with a metal ball that fits into a metal hip causes the two metal elements of the implant to rub together. Allegedly, this occurred in William’s case, and caused metal fragments to fret off from the device and into his body. This issue was behind the ASR hip device recall in 2010.

William says toxic cobalt and chromium metal ions and particles were released into his blood, tissue and bone surrounding the implant, and caused severe pain and discomfort and inflammation in and around the ASR hip implant. Additionally, William claims that as a result of this injury, he experienced difficulty walking short distances and standing for short periods of time.

William says that because of the injuries he suffered as a result of the ASR hip implant, he had the device explanted on Jan. 3, 2019. He says that in addition to the injuries he suffered as a result of the implantation and the design defects of the ASR hip implant, he also suffered injury as a result of the explanation of the device. Revision surgeries traditionally cause their own complications.

According to William, DePuy knew or should have known that the ASR hip implant could cause injury, and should have warned him or should not have sold the device at all.

ASR Hip Implant Lawsuit

Metal on metal hip implants are no longer sold for use in total hip replacements precisely because the two metal pieces can rub improperly and cause metallosis from metal fragments fretting into a patient’s body.

William says DePuy misrepresented the ASR hip implant as safe and effective. The company, William alleges, was negligent in putting a defective and dangerous device on the market, and should be held liable for his injury, as well as for the defect of the device.

His ASR hip implant lawsuit argues that William could not have known that the injuries he suffered were a result of a design defect in his ASR hip implant until after the device was recalled from the market because of concerns over its safety and efficacy.

Additionally, William claims that he could not have known that the levels of chromium and cobalt in his blood were elevated until after he had his blood drawn and was informed of the results of his blood work. Like many other metallosis claims, test results showed that the levels of those metals in his blood were too high.

The DePuy ASR Hip Implant Lawsuit is Case No. 1:19-dp-20019-JJH, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.