Pinnacle System Risk of Failure Worries Medical Experts
DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of healthcare product giant Johnson & Johnson, has been in legal battles for the past few years because of complaints regarding their hip implants, media sources say. The issues surrounding the legal controversy and this company seem to stem from the complaints of patients and medical professionals claiming that the company has been negligent in its duties to properly test and provide the public, including regulators, with information about the dangers of their products.
DePuy Orthopaedics claims that hip replacement surgery is an important procedure for maintaining healthy function and wellness for the elderly. As we grow older our skeleton grows frailer as our bones get weaker, according to the company’s claims. The company’s promotion for their line of hip replacement implants is that they can guarantee a worry-free life from the infirmity of advancing age. Although this implant is recommended for patients over the age of 60, the company’s promotion campaigns have led to younger clients voluntarily undergoing hip resurfacing or replacement believing this will ensure they can maintain a more active and fulfilling lifestyle than they would otherwise.
It seems that promise has, sadly, not been delivered. In the last five years DePuy has struggled to minimize its business losses while trying to battle legal claims that their hip implants were defective and the cause of serious injuries. The most prominent example of the problems DePuy faced was the recall of their XL ASR hip resurfacing and replacement implants in late 2010, which were found to be defective and the cause of severe complications such as metal ion toxicity, pain, infection, wounds and fractures related to the implant being dislocated, loosened and misaligned.
The Pinnacle system is a new hip implant that DePuy has recently developed and marketed, but one that regulators in some countries have not approved of due to past experience with DePuy’s previous product. Medical experts from both countries have decried the implant device as being prone to defects potentially affecting as much as 80% of patients who’ve received them to require life-long monitoring due to being at great risk of developing complications similar to the ones documented with the ASR system.
On top of all the controversy, regulators say that DePuy may have known about the potential defects but continued to market them anyway, casting further doubt on the company’s credibility as a reliable manufacturer.
There have been a great number of legal complaints filed against the company with some still pending from the recall of the ASR system with more predicted to come from the continued sale of the Pinnacle system.
URL References:
bbc.co.uk/news/health-17192520
usrecallnews.com/2010/09/depuy-hip-replacement-recalled-asr-artificial-hip-systems.html
DePuy Orthopaedics claims that hip replacement surgery is an important procedure for maintaining healthy function and wellness for the elderly. As we grow older our skeleton grows frailer as our bones get weaker, according to the company’s claims. The company’s promotion for their line of hip replacement implants is that they can guarantee a worry-free life from the infirmity of advancing age. Although this implant is recommended for patients over the age of 60, the company’s promotion campaigns have led to younger clients voluntarily undergoing hip resurfacing or replacement believing this will ensure they can maintain a more active and fulfilling lifestyle than they would otherwise.
It seems that promise has, sadly, not been delivered. In the last five years DePuy has struggled to minimize its business losses while trying to battle legal claims that their hip implants were defective and the cause of serious injuries. The most prominent example of the problems DePuy faced was the recall of their XL ASR hip resurfacing and replacement implants in late 2010, which were found to be defective and the cause of severe complications such as metal ion toxicity, pain, infection, wounds and fractures related to the implant being dislocated, loosened and misaligned.
The Pinnacle system is a new hip implant that DePuy has recently developed and marketed, but one that regulators in some countries have not approved of due to past experience with DePuy’s previous product. Medical experts from both countries have decried the implant device as being prone to defects potentially affecting as much as 80% of patients who’ve received them to require life-long monitoring due to being at great risk of developing complications similar to the ones documented with the ASR system.
On top of all the controversy, regulators say that DePuy may have known about the potential defects but continued to market them anyway, casting further doubt on the company’s credibility as a reliable manufacturer.
There have been a great number of legal complaints filed against the company with some still pending from the recall of the ASR system with more predicted to come from the continued sale of the Pinnacle system.
URL References:
bbc.co.uk/news/health-17192520
usrecallnews.com/2010/09/depuy-hip-replacement-recalled-asr-artificial-hip-systems.html