Lawsuits
filed by a number of recipients of recalled DePuy ASR hip implant
manufactured by DePuy Orthopedics, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary,
are being consolidated under a federal district court judge in Ohio.
Under Judge David Katz, the multi-district litigation on DePuy ASR lawsuit is scheduled to be held in the U.S. District Court for Northern Ohio.
Putting
several cases into one litigation makes it possible for lawyers of
different plaintiffs work together and share discovery issues and
evidences. It is the same process that was instituted in the litigation
involving BP Oil.
“Based
on Judge Katz’s experience with other MDLs, we expect that he will do a
good job of pushing these cases along, whether it be by settlement or
trial. Any existing cases filed in various federal courts around the
country will likely soon be transferred to his court in order to begin
litigation in his court,” One of the lawyers said in a prepared remarks.
In
August, DePuy Orthopedics based in Indiana recalled its ASR XL
Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing systems following mounting reports of
a higher-than-normal number of patients requiring surgeries to correct
or remove defective implants. Affecting 93,000 people, the recall was
prompted by fresh data from the National Joint Registry of England and
Wales. According to a DePuy press release announcing the recall, the
report showed “a five-year revision rate of approximately 12 percent for
the ASR Hip Resurfacing System and approximately 13 percent for the ASR
XL Acetabular System,”
In June, a Florida woman accused the company of knowing about the device’s problems but failed to warn doctors. Thus, the first DePuy ASR lawsuit
was born over the allegedly defective ASR devices. Three more lawsuits
by California residents – who all had to have revision surgery after the
implant partially detached from their hip sockets – followed the
lawsuit days later.
By
March, DePuy discontinued manufacturing the cup and had it phased out.
The company also sent letters to doctors that same month. The letter
warns that information from the Australian Medical Device Registry
reflect a “higher-than-expected” failure rate in traditional hip
replacements. The data is especially true in smaller patients or those
with weak bones.
According
to the New York Times, these developments came after two years of
reports gathered, showing that the implant was prone to early failure.
The director of the Australian database, Dr. Stephen Graves, told the
newspaper that the DePuy was quite sluggish in pulling the device off
the market. The Times also reported that the Food & Drug
Administration was in receipt of approximately 300 complaints about the
ASR cup since 2008. Most complainants are currently undergoing revision
surgeries to correct the device. Furthermore, the device’s co-developer,
Dr. Thomas Schmalzried, said he and DePuy officials have come to
realize that the ASR cup might be more of a challenge to implant
properly than competing cups.
In
2005, DePuy introduced the ASR in the U.S. after obtaining a 510(k)
clearance from the Food & Drug Administration for the device.