Articles Tagged with ASR

Artificial Hip Lawsuits 2019 Update: Smith & Nephew, Stryker, DePuy

Published on: July 23, 2019 | By Clay Hodges

If you’re reading this you probably know that over the past decade thousands and thousands of lawsuits have been filed by people injured by defective artificial hips. Several manufacturers have been involved, and while a few companies have resolved claims and moved on, thousands of other artificial hip lawsuits remain in courts across the country. Let’s take a look at active litigation involving artificial hips:

Smith & Nephew Birmingham Hip

The Smith & Nephew “Birmingham” hip litigation is in full-swing. Plaintiffs in this litigation allege they were injured after receiving a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) device, or a total hip arthroplasty (THA) utilizing Birmingham Hip components. In the resurfacing procedure, the hip ball bone is shaped and resurfaced with a smooth metal covering and a metal shell is implanted into the hip socket, thus creating a metal-on-metal connection. Smith & Nephew uses cobalt and chromium to construct both of these resurfacing components. These metals have been shown to wear away and move into the blood and tissue of the patient, causing all kinds of symptoms and problems.

DePuy ASR Hip Victims: Revision Surgeries Beyond Ten Years Should Also Be Compensated

Published on: February 2, 2018 | By Clay Hodges

This is my pitch: People who had to undergo revision surgery because their DePuy ASR artificial hip failed should be compensated for their injuries, even if the revision surgery occurred beyond the ten-year anniversary date of the original implant surgery.

Let me admit the obvious: It’s a bit self-serving for me to argue this point. I am an attorney and I represent individuals injured by the failure of the DePuy ASR device. But I have read a lot about these cases, over many years, and the more I understand the science behind these metal-on-metal (MoM) hips (or the lack of science), I am more convinced that thousands of people have been unfairly injured, even if those injuries did not become obvious for several years. Even ten years.

The DePuy ASR Settlements

Depuy ASR Metal-on-Metal Hip: Timeline of Injury, Revisions, Lawsuits

Published on: June 29, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

I have written extensively about metal-on-metal (MoM) artificial hips. Specifically, I have covered the painful and sordid history of the Depuy ASR metal-on-metal (MoM) artificial hip. In this post I set out a timeline of important dates in the the journey of the Depuy ASR hip: from (quickly) finding its way into the market, then into thousands of patients, followed by thousands of revision surgeries, and ultimately to a massive multidistrict litigation (MDL) in federal court in Ohio involving thousands of injured people. Let’s take a look at the calendar of events of the Depuy ASR product failure.

1995

In 1995, Dr. Graham Isaac released a short paper discussing the problems with metal-on-metal (MoM) artificial hips. Dr. Isaac explained how metal wear debris created from MoM hip joints was a serious problem because of poor design and manufacturing of the metal components. Dr. Isaac also stated that even with higher quality manufacturing and engineering techniques, the performance of MoM hip implants were as “unpredictable as ever, working well for a period of time before suffering catastrophic breakdown . . . accompanied by a release of a large volume of debris.” This paper and Depuy’s other internal documents suggest that Depuy Orthopaedics most likely knew of the MoM risk factors in 1995, twenty-two years ago, and ten years before the company began selling the Depuy ASR artificial hip. In fact, one doctor noted that Depuy needed “to be cautious of the legal/litigation issues and lawyers, etc…perception of metal debris and metal-ion release.” I wrote more about what Depuy may have known about the serious risks of the ASR hip here.

Depuy Knew About Metal-on-Metal Hip Risks Decades Ago: Documents

Published on: April 26, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

“What did they know and when did they know it?” When something goes wrong with a medical device, this eventually becomes the key question. Unfortunately for Depuy Orthopaedics (Depuy), a lot has gone wrong with its metal-on-metal (MoM) hip implants over the past ten years. And to make matters worse, recently released documents* show Depuy knew it would have problems with its MoM hip implants decades ago.

Depuy MoM Hip Implants: An Overview

Hip implants have been around for a long time. They can be made of various materials. Some older models use a polyethylene cup and a metal ball to create the artificial hip joint. While this combination works well, it’s not perfect. Engineers have looked for other materials to find a hip joint that can last longer with fewer adverse effects.

One attempted solution was to have both the cup and ball made out of metal, hence a metal-on-metal hip joint. However, the performance of these hip implants was even worse than joints that used polyethylene and metal. Problems with MoM hip implants included significant pain, bone loss, hip implant failure and metallosis.

As a result of these problems, thousands of lawsuits have sprung up, not just against Depuy, with its ASR and Pinnacle MoM implants, but other MoM hip implant manufacturers such as Biomet and Stryker. Many of the Depuy lawsuits have been consolidated into multi-district litigation, or MDL. A few initial bellwether trials involving the Depuy Pinnacle have resulted in massive verdicts against Depuy, which I wrote about here.

Basically, things have not been looking good for Depuy. And they just got worse.

2017 Depuy ASR Hip Settlement Extension: The Latest Information

Published on: April 24, 2017 | By Clay Hodges

We are getting more clarity on the recent extension of the Settlement Agreement in the Depuy ASR artificial hip litigation. As I wrote about in a previous post, the ASR Settlement has now been extended to cover people implanted with the Depuy ASR hip who received a revision surgery between January 31, 2015 and February 15, 2017. This is an important development because up to this point the Settlement did not include any injured people who had undergone revision surgery after January 31, 2015. And this represented a lot of people.

Last week the Depuy ASR MDL executive committees sent correspondence with more clarification of the extension agreement. To make things easy, I am going to refer to this Depuy ASR extension agreement as the “Third Settlement” (because it follows two prior Settlement Agreements which had clearly defined terms and clearly defined deadlines).

Third Settlement Enrollment Deadlines

★★★★★

I was involved in a case for the faulty hip replacements. Clay Hodges represented me. I can't say enough about how much he has helped me. Clay was able to win multiple settlements on my behalf with most of them being the maximum amount able to be awarded. Matt J.

Clay, thank you sir for making a disheartening experience at least palatable, you and your staff were honest, caring and understanding through the entire process of my wife’s hip replacements, while monetary settlements never make the pain and suffering end, it sometimes is the only way people can fight back to right a wrong. J. V.

We are absolutely pleased with how Clay Hodges handled my husband’s hip replacement claim. He always kept us informed of the progress. And, his work resulted in a settlement which we are extremely pleased. Thank you, Clay! Carol L. & Norm L.