A Los Angeles jury awarded $8.3 million to a retired Montana prison guard in a verdict against Johnson & Johnson's DePuy orthopedic unit. Like many others, this man received a defective hip implant from DePuy and needed to have the implant replaced after it was causing him significant pain. These metal-on-metal hip implants shed metal debris into the implant recipient's body causing serious harm.
When metal-on-metal hip implants were initially released, manufacturers said that metal-on-metal hip implants would last much longer than traditional implants, and would allow patients to be far more active with fewer restrictions. Unfortunately, for many patients, just the opposite has been true. In August 2010, Johnson & Johnson recalled two of the hip implants—the ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System—because of unexpectedly high failure rates.
HM&M represents multiple individuals who have suffered significant pain and disability as a result of defective metal-on-metal hip implants. As a product liability attorney I strive to hold these manufacturers accountable for the pain and suffering that they have caused, and I am very pleased to see that this Los Angeles jury has done just that.
