Attorneys of Sullo & Sullo Seeing DePuy Hip Implant Lawsuits Increasing

While many other firms have seen a drop in the number of metal hip implant clients, Sullo and Sullo attorneys have actually seen those numbers climb. Andrew Sullo, Class Action Lead Counsel & Managing Partner notes that “Although many firms have noticed a slowdown in the number of clients hiring them for DePuy ASR and Pinnacle lawsuits, our firm has not. I believe that is because we are constantly offering our clients new and updated information. Our job is to inform all metal-on-metal hip recipients that even though their hip may not have failed yet, it could and after August 26^th they may lose rights to recover compensation from Johnson and Johnson.”

With the statute of limitations coming up soon on the ASR metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuits, Sullo & Sullo is experiencing an increase in the ASR recipients who are coming forward and asking to be a part of the lawsuit. Many clients in the lawsuit have experienced adverse health effects as a direct result of having an ASR all metal hip implant put into their body.  On the other hand, many have experienced little or no pain with their ASR hip implant but have elected to join the lawsuit that they can be financial protected at a point in the future should their ASR device fail. Through no fault of their own, these people have become victims of a heavily flawed system which allows harmful medical devices to be sold to the public. The ASR was approved in 2005 by the FDA under the controversial 510(k) process which allows medical devices to essentially ride in on the coattails of other medical devices which have come before them. In some cases approval is granted based on a device which has actually been discontinued because of the number of problems associated with it.

Soon after the ASR began to be widely used reports streamed in about negative health effects following the implant. Although DePuy initially claimed the failure rate for the ASR was approximately 4-5%--well within normal limits—at the time they recalled the device on August 26, 2010 they were admitting a higher-than-normal failure rate of 12-13%. While this rate is alarming enough, consider the fact that some experts place the failure rate of the ASR at 49% at six years following the surgery and a staggering 80% at eight years post op. There are approximately 43,000 recipients of the ASR in the United States alone, however only some 7,000 ASR recipients have come forward to join in the MDL lawsuits even in light of the fast-approaching statute of limitations.

There are many probable reasons this number is relatively low, one being there may be a large number of the ASR recipients who are not aware of the recall or who don’t know what type of implant their surgeon used. Other ASR recipients may be elderly and although they are having adverse symptoms may simply believe it is due to the natural aging process. Another group of ASR recipients have likely not come forward because they are not yet having trouble with their implant. While it’s good that some ASR hip implant patients are not having trouble, if you consider a failure rate of at least fifty percent, it stands to reason that a large number of these implant recipients will have trouble in the future. Whether that happens in a month, six months or five years, there is a good statistical likelihood that it will, in fact, happen.

Andrew Sullo considers this group of clients “question-mark clients.” This means that while they have not yet experienced problems with the ASR hip implant there is a high probability that they will in the future. Unfortunately, once the statute runs, the time for pursuing a lawsuit against DePuy is gone forever leaving potentially thousands of victims with absolutely no legal recourse as well as the need for expensive revision surgery and deteriorating health. A revision surgery can costs over $100,000. For those who don’t have health insurance this is catastrophic. For those who do have health insurance they may still end up with huge out-of-pocket expenses. The average recovery time for revision surgery is anywhere from six weeks to six months, depending on the deterioration level of the hip, the relative health of the patient and whether there is metal poisoning involved. This means time away from work, or the potential to lose employment all together. Many patients end up with a significant limp, the inability to participate in activities they once enjoyed, or at the far end of the spectrum, permanent disability. The patient who feels just fine right now could end up financially and medically devastated down the road should he or she neglect to join in the DePuy ASR lawsuits.

In short, a lawsuit against DePuy is the clear and logical choice and those who have not yet made the decision to file should come into the Sullo & Sullo offices and sit down with a highly experienced legal professional who can offer the necessary information and assistance while preserving that person’s future rights.