Potential individual
claims and potential DePuy Pinnacle class action lawsuits are currently being
reviewed by attorneys for individuals throughout the United States. DePuy ASR hip cases are also being pursued for individuals
who received one of the recalled hip systems. While the ASR is an exclusively metal-on-metal hip implant,
the Pinnacle was available as a metal-on-metal option. More than 2,600 people
have filed a DePuy ASR hip lawsuit in federal court alleging they
experienced problems with their recalled artificial hip implant, and an average
of 20 new cases are being filed every day, according to recent court documents.
According to court
documents released October 6, there are now at least 538 complaints
consolidated before U.S. District Judge James E. Kinkeade in the DePuy Pinnacle MDL. Just three months ago,
there were only 213 cases in the MDL.
Potentially Widespread Ramifications of DePuy Hip Failure
An estimated 37,000 people
in the United States received a DePuy ASR hip implant before the system was
recalled in August 2010, amid a high failure rate, often resulting in the need
for revision surgery. All suits filed in federal district courts throughout the
country over DePuy ASR hip problems have been consolidated for
pretrial proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Ohio as part of an MDL, or multidistrict litigation while the Pinnacle hip MDL has been assigned in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
A DePuy ASR hip recall was
issued last August, after the manufacturer indicated that data suggests about
12% to 13% of these hips could fail within five years. However, more recent
estimates suggest the failure rate for the DePuy ASR hip will be substantially higher, with
some experts suggesting that nearly half could fail within six years of the
original surgery. Last October, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
(AAOS) issued a warning about potential problems with metal on-metal hip replacements,
indicating that patients and the medical community should be aware that pain
months after hip replacement surgery may be a sign of metal-on-metal hip cobalt
toxicity. Earlier this year, the FDA launched a new website to provide
information about the risks associated with metal-on-metal hip
replacements.
