Meyers & Flowers Announce $2.5 Billion Settlement in the DePuy Orthopaedics, of J&J, for ASR- Hip Implant Failures in Patients

Meyers & Flowers Announce $2.5 Billion Settlement in the DePuy Orthopaedics, of J&J, for ASR- Hip Implant Failures in Patients

Meyers & Flowers, a Chicago law firm concentrating in medical device litigation, announced the $2.5 billion settlement by DePuy Orthopaedics, of Johnson & Johnson, for the more than 8,000 patients suffering from defective ASR-hip replacement devices implanted in their bodies. The announcement followed the settlement agreement approved in a federal court in Toledo, Ohio on Tuesday. Spearheading the litigation in Illinois for hundreds of patients, Peter Flowers, of Meyers & Flowers has filed suits in this case representing the thousands of patients suffering from these metal-on-metal devices who have undergone revision surgery across the country.

“The DePuy settlement is allowing people to recover some compensation for their pain and injuries now, so they don’t have to wait for litigation to float through the court system for years and years,” Flowers said.

The DePuy ASR hip replacement device involves a flawed design of a metal ball that rotates in a metal cup mimicking the hip joint ball and socket movement. When implanted, the prosthesis with all metal surfaces causes grinding friction that generates metallic debris and undue pain. The case alleges DePuy was aware of the harmful complications, yet the device was not red flagged for improvements but instead continued to enter the market place, the hands of surgeons and patients’ bodies.

In 2010, Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy had to recall 33,000 devices in America and 93,000 worldwide after the FDA received more than a thousand adverse reports about the metal-on-metal device. In July 2010, a Class 2 recall was posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. As stated in the case filed against DePuy, the ASR-hip replacement device did not have to go through the clinical study rigors to gain clearance of the Food & Drug Administration because its components demonstrated substantial equivalence to a predicate medical device, and therefore received clearance based on a 510(k). The case alleged that there was insufficient clinical testing of the device.

“This entire litigation and the resolution tells the medical device industry that placing untested devices on the US market and into American citizens will not be tolerated,” Flowers said. “These medical devices must endure the rigors of clinical testing before being marketed to physicians to be implanted in Americans.”

ASR is an acronym for Articular Surface Replacement and is prescribed for use of total hip replacement for patients suffering from severe pain or structural damage or deterioration of the hip joint. Different from a total hip replacement, the resurfacing system only replaces the ball and cap in the hip and must be anchored into the bone. Hip replacements on average have a lifespan of about 15 years but the DePuy ASR implanted device has shown to fail after only two years.

About Meyers & Flowers

The top lawyers at Meyers & Flowers are currently representing clients from across the country in litigation against DePuy Orthopaedics over injuries sustained from using their ASR hip implant device. DePuy failed to inform our clients and their physicians of the dangers of their devices and, as a result, they suffered a variety of injuries and great pain. Meyers & Flowers has the expertise and experience to pursue the prosecution of large-scale litigation. Our attorneys have successfully won mass settlement cases against negligent or criminal device manufacturers.