DePuy ASR Trial Update: Hip Surgeon Testifies About Visit by J&J President before Recall, Parker Waichman LLP Notes

Loading...
Loading...

Last week, jurors in Los Angeles state court heard a testimony from a California hip surgeon who stated that Johnson & Johnson President, David Floyd visited him months before the DePuy ASR hip implant was recalled in 2010. According to the testimony, Floyd had said that sales of the ASR hip implant would be halted without mentioning that there were safety issues.

(PRWEB) February 11, 2013

Parker Waichman LLP, a national law firm dedicated to protecting the rights of victims injured by defective medical devices, recounts the latest DePuy ASR trial developments reported by Bloomberg News. According to a Bloomberg News article published on February 8th, a hip surgeon testified that he was visited by Johnson & Johnson's DePuy Orthopaedics unit president David Floyd months before the DePuy ASR recall. Dr. Craig Swenson told jurors in Los Angeles state court that when he had lunch with Floyd in March 2010, he was told that sales of the ASR hip replacement would be stopped. According to his testimony, Floyd did not mention that the metal-on-metal hip implants had an increasingly high failure rate.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-08/j-j-president-visited-hip-surgeon-pre-recall-jury-told.html

Parker Waichman continues to offer free legal consultations to hip replacement patients implanted with the DePuy ASR, along with other all-metal hip devices. The firm advises hip replacement patients to speak with their surgeons if they experience symptoms such as:

  •     Pain
  •     Swelling
  •     Difficulty walking, or a change in your ability to walk
  •     Popping, creaking, or other sounds emanating from the area of the implant
  •     Metallosis, high levels of metal ions
  •     Early failure, revision surgery

Dr. Craig Swenson has testified on behalf of Loren Kransky, a 65 year old retired corrections officer who alleges that his DePuy ASR hip implant caused high levels of metal ions and other serious injuries (Kransky v. DePuy, BC456086, California Superior Court, Los Angeles County). His lawsuit is the first of 10,000 to go to trial. According to Bloomberg News, Swenson told jurors that when he met with David Floyd months before the ASR recall, he was told that sales of the implant would be stopped without any mention of safety problems. “He informed me that they were going to discontinue sales of the ASR,” Swenson stated. “He didn't give me a reason why.” Swenson said that Floyd never told him about the numerous complaints from other surgeons, nor did he mention the fact that the company was investigating a redesign of the all-metal hip implant. ‘‘He said they were going to stop supporting it,” Swenson said. “There was no part of the conversation that there was any significant problem or that patients needed any special care,” Swenson added.

Johnson & Johnson recalled 93,000 ASR hip implants worldwide in mid-2010. At the time, the company said that the hip failed in 12 percent of patients within five years. More recent data from an Australian national registry indicates a failure rate upwards of 40 percent. Earlier in the trial, Swenson had testified that he had implanted over 200 ASR hips; he testified that the 38 percent failure rate he saw with these implants was far higher than any other device he has used. Bloomberg News reports that on January 29th, he had stated that he “pretty much stopped” using the devices because patients were experiencing high levels of cobalt and chromium ions. Attorneys for Johnson & Johnson have alleged that metal debris released by Kransky's hip implant did not cause his health issues. When Swenson was asked whether or not he agreed with that assertion, he stated “You've got to be kidding… The metal staining damaged his tissue. Those tissues are damaged. We take those tissues out because they are non-functional.”

Parker Waichman LLP continues to offer free legal consultations to victims of metal-on-metal hip implant injuries. If you or a loved one experienced premature failure of your implant or other health problems associated with a metal-on-metal hip implant, please contact their office by visiting the firm's Defective Hip Implants page at yourlawyer.com. Free case evaluations are also available by calling 1 800 LAW INFO (1-800-529-4636).

Contact:
Parker Waichman LLP
Gary Falkowitz, Managing Attorney
(800) LAW-INFO
(800) 529-4636
http://www.yourlawyer.com

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebDepuyasr_lawsuit/022013/prweb10419971.htm

Loading...
Loading...
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!

Loading...