Elder Law

Company Waited Too Long To Issue DePuy Hip Recall

By Levin & Perconti

Many plaintiffs in new DePuy hip implant lawsuits are arguing that the company which manufactured and sold the products waited too long before recalling the devices. As we have frequently reported, many victims are elderly community members and senior citizens.

According to Lawyers and Settlements, claims made by victims of the defective implant are suggesting that the company was aware of problems with the devices long before they stopped giving them to patients. Hip implants are suppose to last up to 20 years, but a large number of patients with DePuy implants required revision surgery in less than 5 years.

As one advocate involved in the DePuy hip lawsuits explained, the recall ?has come too late for thousands of Americans?who will now live with the consequences of these faulty devices for years, if not the rest of their lives.?

Overall, over 93,000 patients have undergone surgery using the problematic implants since 2004. The recall was issued in August after pressure built upon the manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson, over the much higher than average failure rates. Patients suffered a variety of maladies including bone fractures near the implant sight, implant dislocation, and metallosis. Metallosis is caused when fragment of metal break from the device and enter the body.

Full post as published by Illinois Nursing Home Abuse Blog on February 13, 2011 (boomark / email).