DePuy Hip Lawsuit Settlements Sought

A large number of patients who had DePuy Pinnacle or DePuy ASR hip replacement systems implanted due to hip problems are finding that both models are a significant source of side effects and complications, which can include but are not limited to metal poisoning, hip pain, hip swelling, difficulty moving, and DePuy hip revision surgery. One of the most recent lawsuits involves the case of Thomas Porter and was filed on December 19, 2011, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.

According to his lawsuit, Porter was implanted with the DePuy Pinnacle hip replacement system in 2005, and was forced to undergo revision surgery in 2010 because of DePuy hip complications that came up that were related to his hip replacement system. The specific complications alleged by Porter's DePuy hip lawyer in the lawsuit brought against DePuy included implant failure and metal poisoning, and these were allegedly the complications that led to a need for hip revision surgery. This lawsuit is not unique, and joins a significant number of similar ones in growing litigation against orthopedics manufacturer DePuy.

Patients of the DePuy ASR hip replacement device usually complain of complications similar to the ones alleged by Porter that he associated with his Pinnacle device. Unlike the Pinnacle, the DePuy ASR device was actually recalled at one point--voluntarily, by DePuy itself. The recall came after a study from the United Kingdom that showed that a higher number of DePuy ASR patients than previously reported needed DePuy hip revision surgery earlier than is normal for hip replacement patients.

ASR and ASR XL devices are both metal-on-metal systems, and these systems as a whole are coming under fire more and more recently, with some critics saying that metal-on-metal systems do more harm than good and should no longer be produced. Metal-on-metal hip replacement systems or even other joint replacement systems can cause a certain kind of metal poisoning, known as metallosis, which occurs when metal pieces rub up against each other and shred shards of metal including cobalt and chromium. This metal can work its way into a patients tissues and bloodstream, causing the metal poisoning. 

Thomas Porter's lawsuit was filed in an Illinois state court, meaning it is not a part of the current DePuy Pinnacle multi district litigation case which is currently set to take place in the Northern District of Texas. This does not mean that the case will not be transferred to the multi district litigation as the litigation process continues.