One Man's DePuy Hip Replacement Nightmare

TasmaniaWhen Robin Kemp sought an opinion on a potential hip replacement, the DePuy Hip Replacement system was recommended to the teacher as one that was often used for patients younger than Kemp, according to the June 9 issue of Lead Counsel Corner. Assuming that the artificial hip would last him for years, the Australian went ahead and underwent surgery in October 2009.

As it happened, Kemp experienced frustrations in similar fashion with others who have found the DePuy Hip to be problematic. "Unfortunately it never did feel right, it used to clunk and squeak and felt warm and I thought this doesn't seem right," he said in comments published in the May 19 issue of The Mercury, an Australian publication. "I went back and the surgeon said 'we'll give it a year,' but it started to hurt once we went back to Tasmania," said the 55-year-old.

And so it was that last July Kemp was outfitted with a replacement artificial hip—as it happened, one month prior to the recall of the DePuy Articular Surface Replacement system. While operating, surgeons discovered a black mass described as a toxic buildup resulting from the inability of the DePuy Hip Replacement to bond properly to Kemp's bone, as it was designed to do.

A blood test revealed that Kemp's blood contained elevated levels of cobalt and chromium, symptomatic of Cobalt Toxicity. The latter can result in vision impairment, hearing loss, pain, swelling and a condition described by some as "foggy brain." Allergic reactions are common, and in some cases—death.

Kemp, who lives in Tasmania and is part of a US DePuy lawsuit, is pictured in The Mercury leaning on his cane, his left leg twisted, his body hunched over in pain. He looks much older than his 55 years.

The DePuy Hip plaintiff said that when he had his blood tested a second time in February of this year, the toxicity levels had dropped "but were still above normal." He added that the surgeon who replaced his failed DePuy Hip Replacement noted the presence of a bunch of metal filings surrounding his failed hip joint.