DePuy Hip Implant Loosening Continues to Cause Problems

The DePuy ASR hip replacement system, which was recalled last August, continues to gain legal attention as lawsuits continue to be filed against DePuy Orthopedics, makers of the device. There are currently hundreds – maybe soon to be thousands – of these lawsuits in the litigation process right now, which are consolidated in a multidistrict litigation suit. Multidistrict litigation is similar to class action in that it combines lawsuits with similar complaints and helps to speed them through the legal system.
Many patients have been experiencing side effects with their hip replacement systems, including loosening of the hip joint, swelling, and pain in the affected joint. Many of these patients have had to undergo hip revision surgery, a painful and often risky procedure that aims to correct the damaged or faulty implant and replace it with a new one. In the case of patients such as Alex MacPhail, a resident of Danville, California, the complications related to the implant result in the filing of a lawsuit against DePuy, in order to gain some form of settlement and compensation for both pain and suffering and expenses incurred in relation to the complications experienced.
MacPhail, like many patients, had to undergo a hip revision surgery just over a year after his initial surgery – while hip replacement systems, including the DePuy ASR, are usually meant to last at least 15 years. United Kingdom researchers have found that over 12 percent of patients experience failure of their ASR device after only five years with it – more than one in ten patients. A larger percentage of patients experience other side effects associated with the implant. 37,000 people in the United States have received this particular kind of implant, and hundreds of them have filed lawsuits in federal courts.
The multidistrict litigation case is centralized in Ohio, with the US District Judge David A Katz presiding.