DePuy ASR Recall Information Center

The DePuy ASR hip recall was announced in August 2010, after the metal-on-metal hip implant devices were found to be failing in 12-to-13 percent of patients within five years of implantation. The recall involved two ASR hip replacement systems, the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Hip System and DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System. Prior to the DePuy ASR recall, some 93,000 devices had been sold worldwide, including 37,000 in the U.S.

Since the DePuy ASR hip implant recall was issued, more than 10,000 people in the U.S. fitted with the defective hip implants have filed lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit. If you or a loved one received a DePuy ASR hip replacement device and suffered from metallosis, pain, swelling or early failure of the device, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at Bernstein Liebhard LLP are actively filing DePuy ASR lawsuits. Please contact our attorneys today to learn more about the DePuy ASR recall, as well the process for filing your own claim.

Why Was There a DePuy ASR Hip Implant Recall?

DePuy ASR hip implants are metal-on-metal hip replacements in which the ball and cup are made from a chromium-cobalt alloy. Such devices have been the subject of growing safety concerns since the DePuy ASR hip recall because they may shed large amounts of metal ions through wear, resulting in an adverse local tissue reaction called metallosis that causes tissue death, bone loss and the formation of fluid-filled masses called pseudotumors. The ASR, in particular, suffers from a design flaw, an inside groove against which a surgeon pressed a tool to implant the component, which makes the ball more likely to strike the cup’s edge. As a result, the DePuy ASR may wear at a higher rate than other metal-on-metal hips.

The DePuy ASR and other all-metal hip implants were approved via the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) 510(k) approval process, which doesn’t require human clinical testing. The DePuy ASR recall prompted the FDA to launch a safety review of all-metal hips in February 2011, and the agency has since proposed a new rule that would reclassify such devices as “high risk,” making them ineligible for 510(k) approvals. In addition, the FDA has also advised that doctors consider blood and imaging tests for metal-on-metal hip implant recipients who have symptoms of a failing hip implant, including:

• Pain
• Swelling at or near the hip
• Change in walking ability
• Noise from the hip joint

If you received one of the devices included in the DePuy ASR hip implant recall, and experience any of these symptoms more than three months after your surgery, you should consult your doctor to ensure your hip implant is function properly.

Latest news on Depuy ASR Recall

Since the DePuy ASR recall, thousands of people have filed lawsuits alleging DePuy and Johnson & Johnson failed to properly test the hip implants or adequately warn patients and doctors about their risks. Most DePuy ASR recall lawsuits are pending in a multidistrict litigation underway in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio.  However, thousands of others have been filed in state courts around the U.S.

In January 2013, the first ever DePuy ASR hip recall trial began in Los Angeles Superior Court. In the course of that litigation, a number of documents were unsealed that raise serious questions about the Defendants’ assertions that they acted appropriately upon learning of the risks associated with the ASR hip, particularly:

• An internal analysis conducted by Johnson & Johnson that indicates DePuy ASR hip implants may fail in nearly 40% of recipients within just five years. The analysis was conducted in 2011, but never released to the public. That same year, Johnson & Johnson publicly disputed similar findings from the National Joint Registry of England and Wales.
• A document that indicates Johnson & Johnson was aware of problems with ASR hips as early as 2008, two years before it announced the DePuy ASR recall. That year, the company received clinical data showing “extreme” levels of metal ions in patients who received an ASR hip implant when compared with patients who received a product from a rival company. According to one unsealed deposition, a DePuy official told colleagues “I believe it means that we need to start any ASR upgrade sooner than our previous plans had suggested.”
• Documents which reveal Johnson & Johnson knew years before the DePuy ASR hip implant recall that the devices suffered from a design flaw that caused them to wear and shed large quantities of metal debris. These included a report on an internal test in 2007 in which Johnson & Johnson engineers compared the performance of the ASR to that of another of the company’s hip implants to determine whether they had similar rates of wear. The report stated that: “The current results for ASR do not meet the set acceptance criteria for this test.”
• Additional documents indicate the company had received numerous complaints from doctors about the implants, well before the DePuy ASR hip implant recall and even as it started marketing a version of the metal-on-metal hip in the U.S. in 2005.

Learn More About Filing a DePuy ASR Recall Lawsuit

If you or someone you care about were affected by the DePuy ASR hip recall, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages. The DePuy ASR lawyers at Bernstein Liebhard LLP are offering free, no obligation lawsuit evaluations to DePuy ASR recall victims. Simply call today to learn if filing a DePuy ASR lawsuit might be right for you.