Tennessee Defective Hip Implant Lawyers
At Terry, Terry & Stapleton, our legal practice focuses on obtaining compensation for injuries or deaths from dangerous or defective products, including faulty medical devices. Metal-on-metal hip implants, such as those recently recalled by the manufacturer DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., are of particular concern.
Patients with defective metal-on-metal hip replacements may experience pain, discomfort and swelling around the hips. They also could have trouble walking and feel a though their hip is dislocated. Some defective hip implant patients have experienced metal poisoning, which may be caused by metal debris that flakes off from the artificial hips’ ball-and-socket parts, infecting nearby tissue.
If you have suffered complications after having a DePuy or other type of hip implant, contact our Morristown defective hip implant lawyers today at 877-489-5411 for help with your legal case.
We represent clients throughout Tennessee, including Rogersville, Newport, Morristown, Knoxville, Kingsport, Johnson City, Jefferson City and Greeneville. You may be eligible to file a claim to recover compensation for your injury or the wrongful death of a family member and we can help.
Background on DePuy Hip Implants
DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, recalled its ASR XL Acetabular metal-on-metal hip replacement system in 2010. But that was after 93,000 patients worldwide already received the allegedly defective hip implants. The recall came after a U.K. national joint registry revealed heightened failure rates for the DePuy hip implants, according to a recent article in Businessweek.
DePuy reported that 37,000 U.S. patients have received the hip implants, and the British data indicate that 13 percent of DePuy’s ASR XL Acetabular hips had failed and required replacement.
The FDA Gets Involved
In what was described as “an unusual move,” the Food and Drug Administration in May 2011 ordered all manufacturers of metal-on-metal hip implants — not just DePuy — to study patients who have received the hip implants to determine whether the devices are giving off metallic debris that could cause disabling soft tissue damage. Zimmer, Stryker, Biomet and Wright Medical are other leading producers of hip implants.
The New York Times reported that the FDA might also scrutinize lax policies that allowed the hip implants to go on the market with little or no clinical testing on patients.
What Goes Wrong
Hip implants like those DePuy marketed were designed to replace the ball-and-socket joint in patients’ hips. The hip implants include a metal ball on a stem that replaces the femur head. That ball rotates in a metal-lined cup that serves as a replacement socket.
The metal parts in the hip implants may wear over time, causing tiny particles of metal to flake off. Those metal particles could cause patients to suffer damage in the joint and the soft tissue surrounding the hip implant — potentially a very painful and disabling condition. There is also the possibility of metal poisoning.
Patients who suffer complications from defective hip implants could require corrective surgery, and some may need a replacement hip implant. Studies associated with the 2010 DePuy hip implant recall showed that about one in eight patients with an ASR hip implant required corrective surgery within five years.
Contact our Experienced Defective Medical Device Lawyers
If you believe you or a loved one has suffered a personal injury from a defective hip implant, the East Tennessee injury lawyers of Terry, Terry & Stapleton are available to review your case.
Contact us today at 877-489-5411 to discuss protecting your legal rights — including your right to seek monetary compensation from the parties responsible for your injuries.
