DePuy ASR Hip Replacement Legal Action
About the Legal Action
More than 350 Australians so far have joined the legal action against DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of the US pharmaceutical and healthcare company Johnson & Johnson over their faulty ASR hip implants.
DePuy withdrew their metal-on-metal ASR hip replacement implants late last year in response to higher than average failure rates (up to 13 percent) and concern about chromium and cobalt leaching from the prostheses into recipients’ bloodstreams.
According to the National Joint Replacement Registry, around 5,000 Australians received the DePuy ASR Conventional Hip Device or the ASR Resurfacing Device between 2003 and 2009. If the failure rate is as predicted, then about 650 of those recipients will be negatively affected.
Undergoing surgery to remove a defective hip can be incredibly traumatic and takes an enormous toll on a person’s physical and emotional wellbeing.
Cobalt and Chromium in Bloodstream
Research conducted at the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom has revealed a number of failings in the design of the implant. Dr Joyce of the University’s bioengineering team stated “what our research showed was that if the ball and socket were not perfectly aligned then the metal wore away quite vigorously to release non-sized particles into the body that were then absorbed into the bloodstream and tissue”.
Symptoms
High levels of cobalt and chromium can lead to a condition known as metallosis. The symptoms of metallosis include a feeling of instability, an increase in audible sounds from the hip and pain that was not present immediately following surgery.
Bone loss and tissue necrosis (the death of living cells or tissue) may develop if metallosis is untreated.
High levels of cobalt and chromium have been found in the blood of many patients whose DePuy ASR hips have failed.
Hip Replacement Legal Action in Australia
The Shine Lawyers’ Special Projects Department is pursuing legal action in Australia to recover compensation for those affected.
For more information on the Class Action in Australia read the DePuy Hip Replacement Class Action website.
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