Wendy R. Fleishman, a partner in the national plaintiffs' law firm Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, announces that Estella M. Wahl and Terry Wahl have filed a personal injury lawsuit against DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., for designing, manufacturing, and selling an allegedly defective hip implant under the brand name DePuy ASR XL Modular Acetabular Cup System and the Depuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System (the "DePuy ASR"). The DePuy ASR hip implant has been recalled.

Following her 2007 hip replacement with the DePuy ASR, Mrs. Wahl soon experienced excruciating pain that hindered her ability to perform basic physical motions for over three years until she underwent two debilitating revision surgeries in the summer of 2010.

"This has been a terrible experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," stated Wahl, age 61 of Fredericksburg, Texas. "It has been a nightmare that not only stressed me out, but affected my husband, Terry, who had to endure this with me. I felt that my life was useless and I had to rely on Terry for everything. The whole experience has changed our lives and DePuy has to be held accountable."

On August 26, 2010, DePuy Orthopedics announced the recall of its ASR XL Modular Acetabular Cup System and the Depuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System, which was implanted in 93,000 patients worldwide. The ASR System involves a metal-on-metal implant, which is extremely problematic.

The complaint estimates that the failure rate of the DePuy ASR may be as high as 13%, which is substantially greater than the generally accepted standard of no more than five percent of patients should have a revision surgery within five years of implantation. The true failure rate of the DePuy ASR may climb much higher in the coming years as doctors and their patients come to realize that their implants are failing.

"Mrs. Wahl's DePuy ASR implant was defective and failed because, as alleged in the complaint, it had a design flaw," stated attorney Fleishman. "Publicly available data shows that Mrs. Wahl's problems were common among patients who had been implanted with the DePuy ASR. Too many patients implanted with the DePuy ASR have experienced loosening and failures of their implant, requiring revision surgeries."

The lawsuit, entitled Wahl v. DePuy Orthopedics, Inc., and Johnson & Johnson, Inc., was filed yesterday in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.

Source:
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP