Johnson & Johnson Grossly Underestimated Risk of DePuy Hip Failure
By Jeffrey Nadrich
Jeff Nadrich is a defective hip attorney based in Los Angeles California, with more than 25 years of experience successfully defending clients. If you or someone you love has been injured due a DePuy metal hip or other metal hip device, call our law firm today at 1-800-718-4658. You may be entitled to compensation.
An internal Johnson & Johnson engineering report has found that the company used inadequate testing standards to assess the safety of its now-recalled DePuy metal-on-metal hip products. As we previously reported, the internal review found that J&J had grossly underestimated the potential for failure in its ASR metal hip replacements, but new court testimony is revealing even more about these troubled devices.
As the New York Times reports, the ASR has proved to be among the most flawed orthopedic devices sold in recent decades. More than 10,000 lawsuits have already been filed against Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy unit, as metal hip recipients have experienced side effects that include severe pain, discomfort, elevated metal levels in the body (cobalt and chromium specifically) and difficulty walking. Some patients have been forced to spend a fortune on subsequent surgeries in hopes of repairing at least some of the damage.
The information regarding the J&J report has come to light over the past week, in the first of thousands of DePuy hip lawsuits. The plaintiff, Loren Kransky, is a Vietnam war veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange in the 1970s and has suffered hip difficulties for years. His DePuy hip implant left him in severe pain, and he now seeks compensation for his pain, suffering and medical costs.
But Johnson & Johnson remains defiant. In a video testimony, DePuy unit president Andrew Ekdahl informed jurors that the company recalled 93,000 ASR hip implants because they “did not meet the clinical needs for the product,” and not because the metal hips were unsafe. He further argued that Kransky was made aware of the risks before undergoing surgery.
But the latest information revealed about Johnson & Johnson’s own review—specifically that the company used insufficient testing methods to assess the dangers of DePuy hips—calls Ekdahl’s testimony into question. This trial has answered a lot of questions about how Johnson & Johnson was able to secure FDA approval for such a dangerous device, but it should also serve as an important lesson about the need for greater review and accountability for new drugs and devices.
Have you or someone you love experienced complications from a DePuy hip device? If so, you may be entitled to compensation, but you must act quickly in order to file your claim in a timely manner and ensure the best chance of success. The attorneys at Nadrich & Cohen have been leading clients to victory for more than 25 years, and we fight aggressively to ensure the best possible recovery. Johnson & Johnson has admitted that the company should have done more to foresee these problems, and patients should not be forced to suffer severe physical and financial consequences as a result.
Don’t suffer in silence any longer, and don’t be held back by an inability to pay. We don’t charge you any money if we don’t win your case. Call a defective hip attorney today at 1-800-718-4658 for a free case evaluation.
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