Lawsuits Filed Against DePuy Orthopaedics

Honolulu, HIMore lawsuits have been filed against DePuy Orthopaedics following the DePuy hip replacement recall. Patients who have had the DePuy hip implanted have now filed a DePuy lawsuit, alleging the DePuy hip replacement devices were improperly designed and manufactured.

Approximately 93,000 hip replacement units were affected by the recall, which involved the DePuy ASR XL Modular Acetabular Cup System and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System. Now, patients who have had their DePuy hip replacements fail have filed lawsuits against DePuy, saying they have had to undergo costly and painful revision surgery because of the allegedly defective hip replacement.

Such lawsuits have been filed in Ohio, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana and New York. They allege that patients experienced failure of their hip replacements within five years of receiving the replacement. Typically, hip replacements are expected to last up to 15 years. Some patients say they had to have revision surgery despite having no sick time left at work and despite the high cost of the surgery.

At least one patient, Scotty MacGregor in Chicago, says DePuy Orthopaedics blamed her for the failure of her hip implant. According to NBC Chicago (10/28/10), MacGregor filed a lawsuit against DePuy. In response to the lawsuit, DePuy alleged that MacGregor was "negligent, careless and at fault" and contributed to her alleged injuries. The company further speculates that an allergic reaction, unforeseeable illness or unavoidable accident could have caused MacGregor's injuries.

MacGregor's initial hip replacement surgery occurred two-and-a-half years ago. She now faces the prospect of another surgery, requiring approximately two months of recovery time.

The DePuy devices were recalled because of a higher than expected failure rate—around 12 percent. But for patients who have the recalled hip device, the matter is not as simple as just not using it. They have to have revision surgery to replace the failed hip, surgery they were not expecting to undergo for another 10 to 15 years.

A different lawsuit was filed by Jacqueline Lum (her last name is also given as Lim in some reports) in Hawaii. Lum says her left hip began hurting three months after hip revision surgery and now she requires medication to help her sleep at night. According to Lum's attorney (as reported by the Star-Advertiser (10/27/10), Lum has 30 times the normal concentration of cobalt in her system and 10 times the normal concentration of chromium.

That excess cobalt and chromium is allegedly caused by wear and tear on the hip replacement device, which is a metal-on-metal design.