As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Johnson & Johnson is facing its first lawsuit in regards to metal hip implant devices they manufactured that allegedly were not tested properly and produced dangerous results.
The first lawsuit is on behalf of victim L.K. who had an ASR XL hip implant placed in 2007. By 2010 J & J withdrew all of the hip implant devices, citing a British study that showed over a 12 percent failure rate within a five-year span.
Michael Kelly, the attorney for L.K., told a Los Angeles jury, "The ASR XL was dangerous and it was defective in design and we will prove it. This hip, this medical implant, incorporated dangers to an extent beyond what any reasonable doctor would have anticipated or expected."
The fault of the device, according to Kelly, could be credited to a metal ball catching debris, which slid against a metal cup, and allowed poisonous metal ions to be introduced into his client's bloodstream.
One of L.K.'s physicians warned him that without replacement surgery the poison could end up killing him.
Kelly argued that J & J and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit knew of the device's failure, however, the company failed to tell physicians. Both J & J and DePuy deny these claims.
Alexander Calfo, J & J's lawyer, claimed that Kelly only used "snippets of emails, smidgens of depositions and sound bites of memos" in the lawsuit. According to Calfo, J & J and DePuy Orthopaedics did not design a defective product and did not fail to recall their product when it was deemed necessary.
Instead, Calfo to the jurors, "When you hear the evidence of what actually happened with Mr. (L.K.), you will see that story you just heard really isn't the story. DePuy is simply not the company the (L.K.) lawyers claim."
A regulatory filing shows that J & J has faced 10,100 lawsuits through September. There are 7,240 cases pending in Toledo, Ohio's federal court and 2,000 waiting to be heard in San Francisco, California's state court. The balance of cases are due to be heard in other courts throughout the U.S.
Over the last two years approximately $800 million, according to J & J, have been spent on the device's recalls.
According to five sources, lawyers have rejected J & J's current settlement offer of over $200,000 per case.
According to Kelly his client suffered with nearly seven times over the normal amount of cobalt in his body – and cobalt kills human cells.
Calfo argued this point, stating that both cobalt and chromium from the devices are not poisonous and that "The ASR was thoroughly tested and was researched before it was ever used." Calfo further argued that K.K.'s medical conditions – diabetes, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol – were the true root of his health problems and not the hip implant.
If you have been left injured by a medical device contact a personal injury lawyer for help. Oftentimes monetary awards can be made for your pain and suffering.