As of last August of 2010, DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, issued a monumental DePuy hip replacement recall of its metal-on-metal devices. Unfortunately, since DePuy officials had no organized means of tracking hip replacement recipients all over the world, the responsibility of informing these patients was left to the orthopedists and surgeons that performed the procedures. The number of lawsuits is currently only in the hundreds, but slowly gaining in numbers. Since it is estimated that 93,000 hip replacements were given to patients worldwide, it is expected that there would be numerous lawsuits filed on behalf of these patients. This only proves that a significant number of the 93,000 recipients are completely unaware of a recall. One of the popular options ASR recipents do to address this issue is by acquiring the help of a lawyer to recover the best lawsuit settlement possible.


There are reasonable explanations for this disparity in the number of recipients versus the number of lawsuits filed to date. It may be a simple matter in that many of the recipients may have just relocated without leaving any current contact information for their physicians. This is problematic for a number of reasons. First, patients not experiencing any symptoms of hip implant failure or metallosis may not be seeking the proper medical care they need. Second, the more time that has lapsed for these patients to have their claim evaluated by a hip replacement lawyer, the less time they will have to file a claim against DePuy.


Sobering statistics have been published against DePuy’s defective hip replacements as early as 2007, which have increased the urgency for recipients to consult with a hip replacement lawyer. Australia and the United Kingdom are two countries that have regulatory artificial joint registries and initially reported that the metal-on-metal devices failed 12 to13 percent of the time after only five years. However, in the last several weeks, more ominous reports have shown that nearly 49 percent of these defective devices fail after only six years. Ultimately, the majority of these patients will need painful corrective procedures that easily could have been prevented had DePuy been more responsible in designing a better product and initiating a recall of its defective hip replacements earlier.


All over the world, there are thousands of patients that still do not know about a DePuy hip replacement recall. Patients receiving hip replacements over the last several years need to determine if the device was manufactured by DePuy. Once this has been confirmed, these patients should immediately consult with a hip replacement lawyer about getting compensation for damages they are entitled to.