A recently filed DePuy ASR hip lawsuit alleges that DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. unreasonably delayed the decision to pull its controversial all-metal hip implant from the market. The lawsuit, which was filed on April 30, 2012, in a California state court, alleges that DePuy knew of serious problems with its implant as early as 2007, but chose to continue selling it anyway. The company thus allegedly exposed thousands of patients, including the injured plaintiff, to significant harm. It was not until August of 2010 that the DePuy hip recall of the ASR implant was announced.

DePuy hip lawyer claims metallosis among plaintiff’s injuries

The plaintiff in the DePuy ASR hip lawsuit is Stanley Jones, a resident of Sulphur, Oklahoma. According to his DePuy hip lawyer, Jones underwent a hip replacement procedure on November 11, 2008. During that procedure, a DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System was implanted in his right hip.

Following surgery, Jones reportedly suffered from a range of complications that included pain, discomfort, loss of mobility, the development of metallosis and pseudotumors, chromium and cobalt toxicity, stiffness, inflammation, and damage to the bone and tissue surrounding the implant. Due to these injuries, Jones will likely have to undergo a risky and painful revision surgery to replace his implant sometime in the future.

Jones’ wife, Rebecca Anderson, has joined the DePuy ASR hip lawsuit as a co-plaintiff. She is seeking damages for loss of consortium.

Plaintiff: DePuy hip recall unreasonably delayed

When the ASR hip was introduced to the U.S. market in 2005, without undergoing any clinical trials, DePuy advertised it as a “high performance hip replacement” that was designed for “active lifestyles.” Further, DePuy reportedly claimed that its product offered improved “hip range of motion and stability for higher function and a reduction in the occurrence of revision surgery.”

Jones’ DePuy hip lawyer alleges that the company knew that these claims were unfounded as early as 2007. The complaint notes that the FDA has received over 400 complaints since the start of 2008, and patients and medical professionals in Australia and the U.K. began raising questions about the safety of the ASR implant in 2007. Many of those complaints came from patients who were forced to undergo a revision surgery due to the premature failure of their device.

U.K. studies have reported that the ASR has a revision rate of 49% to 60%, as cited in Jones’ DePuy ASR hip lawsuit complaint. One of every two patients with an ASR will likely face revision within six years of implantation. The generally accepted revision rate for implants is 5% within five years.

Jones’ DePuy hip lawyer quotes the director of the Australian National Joint Replacement Registry, who told a British newspaper that “[i]t is a complete untruth that DePuy did not have a reason to withdraw the ASR before now; we have been telling them since 2007, but they allowed it to be used on thousands of people.”

Jones and his wife, who have requested a jury trial, are seeking both compensatory and punitive damages.