A fund that manages health benefits for 25 towns in northern New Jersey filed a class action lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy over its massive hip implant recall. Known as the DePuy ASR Hip Recall MDL (Multidistrict Litigation), this procedure will allow the parties to avoid duplicative discovery, potentially inconsistent pretrial rulings from courts throughout the United States, and help promote the efficient litigation of these cases or allow the parties to reach an agreement to settle DePuy ASR lawsuits. DePuy is already at the center of a $70M deferred prosecution agreement : J&J signed late last week to settle a federal bribery charge.
DePuy discontinued the cup and phased it out by March of this year, sending a letter to doctors that month warning that data from the Australian medical device registry showed a "higher-than-expected" hip implant failure rate in traditional hip replacements, especially in smaller patients or those with weak bones. For some patients who received the hip replacements, intense pain and weakness in the hip areas followed the operation almost immediately. It seems that while every hip replacement device company wanted a piece of the hip replacement profit potential, some designers sacrificed quality and precision for speed.
Lawsuits over the ASR implant have piled up across the country, accusing DePuy of manufacturing a defective product, failing to warn patients and doctors of problems with the implant and negligence in designing, manufacturing and selling the product. DePuy, which introduced the ASR in the U.S. in 2005 after winning clearance from the Food & Drug Administration, allegedly knew of design problems with the cup but failed to adequately warn physicians, according to the lawsuits. Victims of hip implant failure should consult an exoerienced Depuy Hip Lawyer to ensure proper representation in these cases.
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