An Ohio patient has filed a DePuy ASR hip lawsuit saying that design defects in the implant system caused her physical injury and economic loss.

Plaintiff Christina K. says that she was implanted with the ASR hip implant system during a hip replacement surgery on her left hip on or around Feb. 17, 2009. She says that because of the device’s metal-on-metal design, she suffered a range of injuries. She aims to hold the device’s makers, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., accountable for her injury, saying that the company knowingly misrepresented the device as safe and effective.

Christina’s lawsuit joins a number of others as part of a multi-district litigation filed against DePuy over its allegedly defective ASR hip system.

Patients and the medical community have pushed back significantly against the ASR hip implant system and other metal-on-metal hip implants by DePuy. After complaints of injury, DePuy recalled the device in 2010. Reuters reports that now, DePuy will pay $120 million to several states after numerous states claimed that ASR XL and Pinnacle Ultamet hip implant devices were falsely advertised. 

Additionally, The Guardian reports that in the UK, DePuy as agreed to a payout to the National Health Service to cover the cost of “monitoring and operating on patients who were given defective hip replacements.”

Christina claims that she suffered the following injury as a result of the implantation of the ASR hip system: pain, metallosis, limitation of activities, loss of enjoyment of life, medical expenses related to revision surgery and medical expenses that she will incur in the future.

She says that because of these injuries, she then had the ASR hip explanted on June 20, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. She says that surgery required to remove and replace her hip implant also caused her injuries.

Allegedly, the fact that the device was designed with a metal ball that fits into a metal socket was instrumental in Christina’s injuries. She says that most hip replacement devices are designed with a metal component that works with a component made of another material, like porcelain or plastic.

The DePuy lawsuit says that the two metal components rub against one another in such a way that metal fragments fret off of the device and into the patient’s body.

Christina argues that this occurrence caused the levels of chromium and cobalt, the metals from which the DePuy ASR hip is made, to rise in her bloodstream. She says that she did not know this until she had her blood drawn after her hip implant.

Allegedly, the fact that metal fragments can be fretted into a patient’s body because of the metal on metal design can also cause the device to wear improperly, and can cause pain and limited range of motion. Christina says that the metal-on-metal design caused her pain, limitation of activity, and a loss of enjoyment of life.

The DePuy ASR lawsuit argues that DePuy was negligent in producing and selling a device that caused injury, and in misrepresenting it as safe and effective. The DePuy ASR hip lawsuit also claims that the company should be held liable for the design’s alleged design and manufacturing defects, and argues that the campy breached warranty and express warranty.

The DePuy lawsuit also aims to hold DePuy liable for fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment of the possible dangers associated with the device, and negligent misrepresentation, amidst a list of other allegations.

The DePuy Hip Lawsuit is Case No. 1:19-dp-20015-JJH, United States Court Northern District of Ohio, Western Division.