A tide of indignation arose when DePuy Orthopaedics voluntarily recalled their ASR XL Acetabular System and the ASR Hip Resurfacing System especially when evidence revealed they failed to issue the recall as soon as was necessary. Lawsuits filed against the orthopedic manufacturer gave allegations of DePuy having prior knowledge of data stating there were problems with the ASR devices but did not withdraw the units until several months after. The company is even in turmoil since J&J shareholders decided to sue over a Depuy bribery scandal a few years ago.

These claims are based on a number of facts. Prior to the recall in as early as 2008, the U.S Food and Drugs Administration has received hundreds of complaints against the ASR hip devices. Professor Stephen Graves, the director of the Australian National Joint Replacement Registry, notified DePuy of the ASR failure rate that was first noticed in 2007. At Professor Graves' and the Registry's urging, DePuy issued a recall on the hip replacement devices from the Australian market, practically a year before they declared the worldwide hip recall.

Although the bulk of the blame rests on DePuy, experts believe that had a similar joint registry been present in the U.S., problems with the ASR hip replacement units would have been detected early. It would then strongly compel DePuy to recall the hip implants sooner.

For this reason, the American Joint Replacement Registry was created by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in the hope that revision surgeries will decrease in number in the next several years. Orthopedic surgeon Dr. William J. Maloney states, “The advantages of a registry are many. You can pool patients, provide contemporary information and do postmarket surveillance. It can lead to evidence-based practice, generate research questions and be, in and of itself, a research tool.”

The study by the National Joint Registry for England and Wales pushed DePuy to announce the ASR recall. Future similar incidents might diminish but current DePuy hip replacement victims still face the consequences the faulty ASR devices provided. Filing a DePuy ASR hip replacement lawsuit may be your only chance of making the company liable for the suffering and loss you had to needlessly endure.