There is definitely no doubt about it. DePuy Orthopaedics should issued a recall the moment they knew that their implants were defective. In fact, they should have never released their ASR implants to the market, because they never underwent clinical testing procedures set forth by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. It was eventually found out that the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System both had a failure rate of 12-13%. It can also affect 1 in every 8 recipients--quite an alarming figure, if you might add.

The truth is, DePuy was able to spot a loophole in one of FDA’s regulatory policies, and the company was able to circumvent this rule according to their benefit. They should not be surprised that their products yielded nothing but complications, because they were not routinely tested by the FDA. This fact can lead us to think, “What more products do they manufacture, that contain nothing but defects?” This is only a speculation--but quite a valid one, given that they have shown nothing but sheer negligence in manufacturing health care devices.

Now that the DePuy hip recall is at its peak, more victims speak up, and so lawsuit just keep on mounting. In Canada, three class actions are set to face the company, while a multi-district litigation is ongoing in the United States. Let us keep our fingers crossed that the verdicts of these lawsuits will be fair, and will ultimately benefit both sides without compromising justice. After all, the victims of the defective hip implants really do need to be compensated for the damages, including out-of-pocket expenses.

Credits to: DePuy Hip Implant Warnings Issued Many Times Prior to Recall