For the early failure rates of the DePuy ASR XL hip implants, it’s everyone’s fault but theirs. DePuy Orthopaedics recalled its ASR XL hip implant in August, but the company, which is a division of global American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, has yet to take direct responsibility for the failed implant.
Instead, DePuy continues to place blame of the device’s failure on surgeons who did not accurately position the hip and even patients themselves. In 2009, the company sent a letter to surgeons urging them to follow placement instructions more accurately. And DePuy now claims patients are responsible for the failure of the device in their bodies, such as obesity, failure to follow post-surgical recovery guidelines and inappropriate use of the hip.
As a North Charleston personal injury attorney, I do not agree with DePuy’s blame game. In 2009, complaints to the Food and Drug Administration claiming the device was failing reached more than 400. In Britain, patients also reported metal debris shedding from the hip and causing metallosis in the blood stream and non-cancerous tumors in surrounding tissue.
The number of failures and reports of things going wrong in patients shows something the implant is at fault. If you or a loved one has needed revision surgery or have the implant and fear the risk of metallosis, have your case evaluated by a North Charleston personal injury lawyer.
