Just days after a California jury awarded a DePuy hip implant victim $8.3 million in damages, the second of nearly 11,000 lawsuits against medical device manufacturers DePuy Orthopaedics and parent company Johnson & Johnson is now underway.
From California To Chicago
The second DePuy hip injury lawsuit trial is now underway in Chicago. The plaintiff, Carol Strum, a 54-year-old Illinois nurse, sued the medical device giants, alleging not only that her implanted DePuy ASR was defective but also that the company neglected to warn her about the increased dangers of failure and metal poisoning.
According to Bloomberg, Strum was implanted with the DePuy ASR in 2008, but then doctors noticed that her blood contained excessive levels of chromium and cobalt levels due to debris from her metal-on-metal hip implant device. This condition, known as metallosis, can lead to numerous life-threatening dangers. She had to undergo another painful, expensive and complicated hip revision surgery in 2011 to remove and replace the ASR system, which, in theory, should have lasted for many years — not just three.
FDA Urges Doctors To Monitor For Metallosis
Although issues with the DePuy ASR XL metal-on-metal hip implant initially focused on high failure rates, the increasing concern about metallosis is quickly becoming a major issue for patients and allegations in lawsuits against the company. One of the key reasons for this is that the long-term effects of metallosis are still virtually unknown, and ongoing costly and time-consuming medical monitoring is becoming increasingly advised.
The issue has received so much attention lately that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued new guidelines to patients implanted with DePuy’s ASR and other all-metal hip replacements by advising doctors to conduct physical examinations, diagnostic imaging and metal ion testing. It has also proposed stricter regulations that would require manufacturers to prove the implants are safe and effective before selling them.
If you’ve been injured by a defective medical device and would like to speak with an experienced product liability attorney about your situation, with absolutely no obligation, contact The Driscoll Firm, P.C. We can provide you with the information you need so that you can decide whether taking legal action is in your best interests.
