Orthopaedic Alerts - Implant Recall

Johnson & Johnson’s lawyers proposed another settlement offer in an attempt to settle thousands of DePuy ASR hip implant lawsuits filed by people injured by the device.

The company will pay approximately $2.5 billion to nearly 8,000 people who suffered serious complications resulting from the DePuy ASR and were forced to have revision surgery to replace the device, according to The New York Times.

Previously, the medical giant was poised to offer $4 billion to those same patients.

Under the agreement announced Tuesday in the Federal District Court in Toledo, $2 billion will be set aside for basic awards and an additional $475 million is reserved for people who sustained more significant injuries.

Johnson & Johnson’s attorneys said medical costs for these patients will be paid under a separate amount of $3 billion. According to plaintiff’s lawyers, this condition is “unusual.” Typically, medical damages are paid in a lump sum along with pain and suffering.

That breaks down to roughly $250,000 for each patient’s pain and suffering, plus additional money for medical expenses.

Amount Paid to Each Claimant Will Be Adjusted

Although each claim’s value will still be adjusted, there are no guarantees that every plaintiff will receive the same amount. The base $250,000 settlement will fluctuate by:

• Severity of injuries
• Length of time the patient had the implant before it was removed
• Whether the patient smoked
• Whether claimant is overweight
• Patient’s age

Those who are the most severely injured will qualify for additional monies set aside in the pool of $475 million. J&J’s attorneys say they expect only about 10 percent to qualify. These patients will be those whose hips were too badly damaged to replace the implant effectively.

The exact amount of the settlement may still rise since more claimants are expected to join the proceedings. In order for this agreement to be approved in court, 94 percent of all plaintiffs must agree to the terms.

A Troubled History

The DePuy ASR hip implant has sparked more than 12,000 lawsuits.

After the device was approved in 2003, doctors in the U.S. implanted approximately one-third of the 93,000 devices sold worldwide. The implant’s metal-on-metal design was thought to be superior to other hip implants made of plastic and ceramic.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration received reports of complications such as metal poisoning (metallosis), dislocation, and tissue and bone death. The implant was recalled in 2010.

The first hip implant case against DePuy was put before a California jury in March. The jury returned an $8 million verdict for plaintiff Loren Kransky.

Kransky suffered from debilitating pain and spent time in a wheelchair after his DePuy ASR failed, and metal particles from the implant seeped into his tissues and bones causing damage.

The Los Angeles jury ruled that DePuy was guilty of negligence, and the ASR was defective.