• 30
  • August
    2010

Baton Rouge product liability attorneys are following the recent news about hip replacement implants that have been failing, and that have now been recalled by DePuy Orthopaedics, which is a unit of Johnson & Johnson.

Two types of hip implants are being recalled because many patients required a second hip replacement after the company's implants had failed.

This is not the only problem Johnson & Johnson has had recently. They also had to recall some other products, including liquid children's Tylenol in the United States and Acuvue contact lenses in Japan and other countries in Asia and Europe.

A federal inquiry is underway over the Tylenol recall. The Tylenol was made by Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Consumer Health Care unit.

The Food and Drug Administration criticized the company in a warning letter this week, saying that J&J marketed an unapproved knee device and had also sold a hip implant for an unapproved use.

DePuy is recalling two products: the ASR XL Acetabular System, a hip socket used in traditional hip replacement, and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System, a partial hip replacement that involves placing a metal cap on the ball of the femur, a method intended to preserve more bone.

Estimates are that around 93,000 of these devices have been implanted worldwide.

DePuy has said it will pay reasonable and customary medical costs associated with the recalled products, including new hip replacement operations.

Last year, DePuy's sales were at $5.4 billion, according to a Johnson & Johnson earnings report.

Source: New York Times "Johnson & Johnson Recalls Hip Implants" August 26, 2010