DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. is recently facing various lawsuits filed by law firms in UK, US and Australia, in behalf of patients who underwent hip replacement operations. Depuy, which is a subsidiary company of Johnson and Johnson, enforced a global pullback of their devices.

There are around 93,000 recipients of the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System worldwide. After the release of data presenting defectiveness in one out of eight patients to whom they were implanted, the two devices were pulled back. These two implant designs have been manufactured and marketed since 2003.

The Australian market for these DePuy devices were subjected of a total pullout in December 2009. It also announced the recall of these devices in August 2010, approximately eight months after recalling them in Australia. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have taken notice of negative feedback from DePuy clients between 2008 and the time of its recall announcement. Many of these clients need a second hip replacement surgery.

Dr. Stephen Graves says "It is a complete untruth that DePuy did not have reason to withdraw the ASR before now; we have been telling them since 2007, but they allowed it to be used on thousands of people." He is the director of the National Joint Replacement Registry in Australia.

Legal professionals say that several clients have initiated court actions against Johnson and Johnson. They were the victims of DePuy hip implants failures and defects such as loosening, fractures, and displacements.

The signs of artificial hip device defect include:

• Swelling

• Pain bearing weight

• Pain when rising from a seated position

• Pain while walking

• Pain on the thigh or groin area

• Pain on the hip area

It extreme cases, these hip devices may completely fail, resulting in more severe health complication. This take place when:

• the device is not attached to the bone correctly;

• the unit is dislocated and misaligned;

• the bone around the implant is fractured.

Furthermore, flawed hip implants may set down small pieces of toxic metal into the client's circulatory system. Pseudotumors may also be developed in the body tissues.

With claims for compensation piling up globally, DePuy should pay attention to these the hip replacement problems experienced by its patients.