Medical Alert

I write to you today to alert you to a defective medical product; the Johnson & Johnson DePuy ASR Artificial Hip.

The DePuy ASR Hip was implanted into 93,000 individuals, mostly of retirement age.

Medical researchers have now concluded that the DePuy ASR metal-on-metal hip implant has major design defects and have expressed grave concerns about its safety. The primary defect is believed to be the ace tabular prosthesis, the “cup” for it is so shallow it is susceptible to “edge loading,” a situation where the joint’s ball strikes against the cup’s edge, chiseling off debris.

This defect leads to potentially severe complications. As the metal-on-metal surfaces of the implant parts rub together, microscopic ions of the heavy metals chromium and cobalt are released into the body. As you know elevated levels of chromium and cobalt over time can cause a potentially dangerous condition know as metallosis.

Recovered evidence now suggests that as many as 30,000 of the total 93,000 recipients are likely to experience product failure and will require revision surgery. These procedures will be performed on a predominantly elderly patient population particularly susceptible to potentially severe complications such as deep vein thrombosis, system infection, implant dislocation, injury to the arteries or nerves of the leg, shortening of the leg, fat embolism, femur fracture, permanent loss of range of motion and intractable pain.