depuy hip replacement lawsuit depuy hip lawsuit

The Executive Editor of the New England Journal of Medicine recently called the DePuy ASR hip replacement recall a “public health nightmare” and a prime example for why the FDA needs to fix the “510(k) clearance” loophole that allows the sale of certain medical devices — even implants — to be sold without any clinical data or testing. The Institute of Medicine, too, has recently recommended that 510(k) clearance be eliminated.

In the meantime, 93,000 patients are stuck with defective ASR hip replacement implants with a shocking replacement rate: 21% revision rate at 4 years (up to 35% if all currently known painful implants progress to revision) to 49% at 6 years. Other hip replacement devices have a revision rate of 12% to 15% at 5 years. DePuy Orthopedics is negligent and they know it; they spend about a quarter billion dollars every four months dealing with the product recall and the litigation associated with it.

We have an active DePuy hip replacement recall practice around here, so we follow the litigation closely, and yesterday’s report by Reuters discussed one of the more disturbing turns lately:

In a highly unusual move, DePuy has hired a third party — Broadspire Services Inc, which manages workers compensation and other medical claims on behalf of insurance companies and employers — to administer patient claims for out-of-pocket medical costs associated with the recall.

The move has prompted debate among industry and legal experts. Some see it as an efficient way to outsource a process that is unrelated to making artificial hips. Others see it as a way for J&J to limit payments while gaining control of medical records and other material that could be used against patients in court. …

To critics, DePuy’s handling of its hip implant recall is designed to save money by potentially settling claims with patients before they fully understand their legal rights, or the likely cost of their hip-related medical costs in the future.

Indeed, that’s exactly what Johnson & Johnson (which owns DePuy Orthopedics) and DePuy are trying to do: manipulate patients and their treating physicians outside of the appropriate court processes.
Continue Reading DePuy Tricks Hip Recall Patients Into Losing Legal Rights