A recent study published in the British Medical Journal Open suggests that elevated blood metal ion concentrations may be associated with early failure of metal on metal devices. The study reveals that the presence of elevated cobalt blood levels is correlated with an increased risk of failure in the DePuy ASR device.
The study reveals…
As we previously reported, DePuy has recalled its ASR hip replacement device. There are thousands of cases pending across the country related to the ASR device. This blog provides some of the warning signs that your ASR device has failed. This list is not comprehensive and should not be substituted for the judgment of…
DePuy ASR hip lawsuits in the federal consolidated action, In re: DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. ASR Hip Implant Products Liability Litigation (“MDL No. 2197”), continue to proceed with several depositions of DePuy executives scheduled to take place in the next three months. On August 22, 2012, eight depositions were noticed in the federal DePuy ASR hip…
The DePuy ASR hip recall continues to affect thousands of individuals as we reach the two-year anniversary of the recall. As we previously reported, on August 26, 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, issued a worldwide recall of its metal-on-metal ASR hip implant devices.
According to Johnson & Johnson, the DePuy…
As we have previously reported, in August 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics recalled all of its ASR products after reports surfaced alleging a higher than normal failure rate for their metal-on-metal hip implant devices. The recall encompassed about 37,000 devices in the United States, resulting in approximately 8,000 lawsuits being filed since 2010.
A recent Bloomberg…
A successor to the DePuy ASR model, the DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip system has nearly 1,600 lawsuits pending in U.S. courts. Doctors tracking large groups of patients with both products estimate that more than 10 percent of the DePuy Pinnacle all-metal hips will have failed in the next two to three years.
Many patients with…
On July 25, 2012, Judge David A. Katz, who is overseeing the federal DePuy ASR cases in the Northern District of Ohio, established the protocol to select the initial bellwether cases for trial. Courts often use the bellwether approach when a large number of plaintiffs are pursuing the same general theory of liability. Otherwise, it…
As previously reported, in May 2011, all federal cases involving DePuy Pinnacle were transferred to the Northern District of Texas and received Multi-District Litigation (“MDL”) status. The Honorable Judge Ed Kinkeade was appointed to manage all federal DePuy Pinnacle cases after the Judicial Panel on MDL consolidated the cases for discovery and pre-trial motions. Following…
On April 25, 2012, Judge Martinotti hosted a joint MDL/State Case Management Conference in Bergen County, New Jersey, along with the Honorable David A. Katz, U.S.D.J., who is presiding over the federal cases in the MDL in Ohio. As previously discussed, the centralization of the state and federal cases will streamline the lawsuits, allowing the…
A recent Bloomberg article, reported that House Democrat Edward Markey (MA) has sponsored a bill that would prevent manufacturers from asserting that their new medical devices are “substantially equivalent” to existing, approved devices, under certain circumstances. While the bill was apparently developed as a result of a 1999 recall of vaginal mesh manufactured by…
