One of the most prominent hip implant recalls in the United States, the so-called DePuy hip replacement recall, has been reportedly in response to major safety issues concerning the company’s all-metal ASR hip systems, says an expert witness in a case involving a hip replacement lawsuit filed by Montana-based plaintiff Loren Kransky, according to online news report by Bloomberg. Kransky was reportedly implanted of one of the now-recalled ASR hips to treat osteoarthritis he developed in his left hip. He reportedly alleges that the DePuy ASR caused him metal poisoning, among other problems, claiming in his case that Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy unit defectively designed its ASR hip and failed to warn of its risks. While not pointing out a single brand, similar problems have also been revealed by several recent studies involving all-metal hip implants.

There were about 93,000 hip replacement implants in the United States thatwere reportedly affected by the recall conducted by the company in 2010. While an executive of the company explained in previous open-court appearance that such action was instituted because of declining sales, it has been recently disclosed by an expert witness, Graham Isaac, that DePuy executives were purportedly prompted to take ASR hip devices off the market because of unusually high failure rates. 

Isaac, one of the designers of the DePuy ASR, testified and told the Los Angeles jury that that “patients are always exposed to ions” of the materials that make up a hip device, whether or not it consists of all metal or other materials, online media reports. The engineer also attested that the company allegedly failed to reveal that all hip designs may bring about such exposure to recipients.

Attorneys for Kransky reportedly asked for $338,000 for medical expenses and $5 million for Kransky’s pain and suffering as much as $172 million for punitive damages during the closing arguments for the case. On the other hand, the diversified healthcare company J&J denies allegations of failing to warn over the ASR’s risks, and poorly designing that the controversial ASR all-metal implants.

Sources:

bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-04/j-j-recalled-hips-over-safety-concerns-witness-testifies.html

latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-hip-trial-johnson-20130228,0,2664071.story

bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-21/j-j-s-floyd-says-hip-sales-halted-for-business-not-safety.html