Product Liability Lawsuit an Option for DePuy Hip Recall Victims

(March 7, 2011, New York, NY) With recent revelations made public about the failure to properly test its recalled hip replacement devices, DePuy Orthopaedics has exposed itself to product liability issues in addition to being sued for damages by victims who were implanted with their defective hip replacement devices. The ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System were recalled in August 2010, after it was shown that the devices began to fail approximately five years after implantation. It has since been determined that these metal-on-metal hip replacement devices showed abnormal wear and tear due to friction between the metal components impacting the surrounding tissue. This causes the implant to weaken and, ultimately, to fail.
Since 2008, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received 300 complaints about DePuy hip replacement devices. The Australian Joint Replacement Registry reported that these same hip replacement devices were failing within five years, 12 to 13 percent of the time. Since there is no official joint registry in the United States, reporting from abroad was the catalyst in prompting DePuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson, to recall their defective devices. Product liability now figures prominently in the hip replacement lawsuits filed in the United States due to overwhelming evidence that the DePuy devices were not properly tested before entering the marketplace. The company exploited the FDA 510(k) approval process, which allows for approval of medical devices citing their similarity to other products already available. This mechanism allowed the defective DePuy devices to be made available without the rigorous testing and safety assessments normally performed before a product is approved. Had the FDA been more vigilant in its approval, significant pain and suffering on the part of victims who were implanted with these devices could have been avoided.
Proof of product liability requires demonstration of a design defect, a manufacturing defect, or the failure to warn consumers of possible dangers caused by a product in question. The recalled DePuy hip replacement devices have shown to be defective in their design, and they were not properly tested before being made available. Qualified hip replacement lawyers have been advocating for victims of the DePuy hip recall, working towards obtaining settlements for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The potential to prove product liability is another option victims can choose to explore. The Rottenstein Law Group has set up a Web site to help protect the rights of victims, and to help obtain compensation for injuries suffered due to the DePuy hip recall.
About the Rottenstein Law Group
The Rottenstein Law Group is a New York-based law firm that represents clients in mass tort actions. The firm was founded by Rochelle Rottenstein, a lawyer with over two decades of experience in compassionate representation of clients in consumer product injury, mass tort, and class action law suits. For more information, please visit their Web site, or call (888) 9-ROT-LAW.

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