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DePuy ASR Hip Trial Update: DePuy Marketing Director Voiced Concerns about DePuy ASR Hip Implant and Advised Recall

DePuy ASR Hip Trial Update: DePuy Marketing Director Voiced Concerns about DePuy ASR Hip Implant and Advised RecallThe first of 10,000 DePuy ASR Hip lawsuits is on trial in a California Superior Court in Los Angeles County. The trial, Kransky v. DePuy, continues to move forward with testimony, most recently from a DePuy marketing executive.

he testimony delivered late last week concerned a Johnson & Johnson director of hip marketing, Paul Berman, who wrote an email voicing concerns about the safety of the DePuy ASR Hip Replacement system, and advised a recall. Berman’s email was sent out on March 14, 2010.

According to a Bloomberg News report on the most recent DePuy ASR Hip trial proceedings, a total of four emails were sent out to other Johnson & Johnson and DePuy executives addressing Berman’s misgivings about the DePuy ASR Hip implant. Furthermore, Randall Kilburn, a DePuy marketing executive, testified that he showed Berman’s email to the then DePuy president, David Floyd.

Clearly, then, DePuy executives at all levels were made aware of at least one employee’s concerns regarding the safety of the DePuy ASR Hip implant. However, the DePuy ASR Hip recall took place several months after Berman’s email was sent out in March 2010. It appears that these early warning signs and concerns were ignored for far too long, allowing time for more patients to receive defective hip implants.

The DePuy ASR Hip Replacement system has become synonymous with an abnormally high failure rate. According to information supplied to the jury in Kransky v. DePuy, evidence revealed the failure rate for the DePuy ASR Hip implant to be “35.8 percent within 4.57 years”.

This failure rate calculation comes from an internal DePuy study conducted to determine the efficacy of the DePuy ASR Hip Replacement system.

In a recent New York Times article, it appears that Johnson & Johnson also received a letter from a doctor and consultant addressing the defective design of the DePuy ASR Hip implant that, according to his observations, was causing harm to patients. The letter was sent in 2008, and advised that Johnson & Johnson “slow its marketing” in order to conduct an in-depth study of the DePuy ASR Hip Replacement system.

Evidently, Johnson & Johnson chose to ignore the warning signs and letters coming internally and from outside of the company about the defective nature of the DePuy ASR Hip Replacement system.

If you or someone you love has received a DePuy ASR Hip implant, and has experienced any health complications related to the implant, such as metal poisoning, neurological damage, numerous revision surgeries, and local tissue, muscle, and bone damage, you may be eligible to receive compensation for such undue suffering and loss.

For a free legal consultation and to file a DePuy ASR Hip lawsuit, contact an experienced trial lawyer at Carey Danis & Lowe by calling 800.721.2519 or by submitting a claim using our legal claims form.