Updated on: 11/8/2019
It is widely known that that DePuy Orthopaedics’ two metal-on-metal hip replacements, the ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System, frequently fail causing a wide variety of problems and symptoms in patients that have received the him implants. Hip replacement systems are designed to last approximately fifteen years. Studies show that the DePuy’s ASRs are failing at a rate ranging from 21 percent after four years to 49 percent after six years. This has caused many people to hire hip replacement lawyers to file defective hip replacement lawsuits.According to an article in the British newspaper Daily Mail, the number of people in the UK suing DePuy over these defective hip implants has grown to more than 300. The article covers the personal stories of several individuals who have received the implants which later required a second hip replacement surgery to replace the faulty device.
DePuy, which is a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, responded to the Daily Mail, by defending the faulty devises saying “Clinical studies and monitoring show the benefits of metal-on-metal technology often outweigh the risks for many patients.”
The company’s position conflicts with research published in the British Medical Journal that showed metal-on-metal implants provide no more benefits than other hip replacement devices.
DePuy implant recipient horror stories have been reported all over the world but the vast majority of the cases are focused in the United States. Abnormally higher-than-normal fairlure rates lead DePuy to withdraw the ASR devices from foreign markets in 2009 However, the company kept selling the faulty hip replacement devices in the U.S. despite reports from artificial joint registries that the implants continued to have a high failure rate.