Patients Disclose About Flaw in DePuy’s Compensation Program

The patients’ complaints over DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. compensation process through Broadspire Services was published in the New York Times, on December 27, 2011. Broadspire Services specializes in clients’ compensation claims and medical claims. 

 

For instance, Paula Laverty was warned by her hospital that they would sell her debt of $41,578 to a debt collection agency, if she did not pay the whole amount.  She then found out that DePuy merely paid the hospital $18,000. Laverty’s case is an example of Broadspire Services’ downside.

 

According to the New York Times, “things have not gone smoothly” with DePuy’s process of compensatory claims.

 

Design problems with metal-on-metal hip implants may have  caused the metal components of the DePuy device to rub against each other and shed microscopic metal particles into the body.  Complications from defective DePuy hip replacement implants include :

 

• Unexplained hip pain

• Hip dislocation

• Swelling

• Complete hip failure

• Metallosis (metal toxicity or blood poisoning)

• Pseudotumors

• Additional hip replacement or revision surgery

• Loosening of hip device

• Bone loss

• Inflammatory reactions

• Presence of chromium and cobalt in the blood that may lead to cancer

• Detachment of the hip device from the bone

• Tissue damages

• Genotoxicity (genetic damage)

• Bone fractures

 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have taken notice of about 400 negative feedbacks from DePuy clients between 2008 and the time of its recall announcement. Many of these clients need a second hip replacement surgery. Presently, numerous clients have pursued legal complaints against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. and its mother company, Johnson & Johnson.

 

To facilitate medical attention for the affected patients who had bought the devices from it, DePuy Orthoapedics Inc. and Johnson & Johnson should provide wide-ranging information dissemination on the flawed hip replacement symptoms. 

 

 

“Most major medical centers have seen issues with this device,” Dr. Joshua J. Jacobs, the chairman of orthopedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, says in a newspaper interview.

 

These cases allege that the company delayed the issuance of the DePuy hip replacement recall even though it knew about the problems of the products. Hence, you should immediately consult your physician if you have any doubts and concerns about your health condition relating to your hip surgery. Moreover, you should seek legal advice to find out if you qualify for medical compensation. 

 

 

 

References:

•         usrecallnews.com/2010/09/depuy-hip-replacement-recalled-asr-artificial-hip-systems.html

•         nytimes.com/2010/08/27/business/27hip.html

•         tga.gov.au/newsroom/btn-dupuy-recall.htm