The first DePuy ASR hip implant trial began on January 25th in the California Superior Court in Los Angeles County. The case, Kransky v. DePuy, revolves around Loren Kransky, a 65-year old man who received a DePuy ASR hip implant in 2007 and was forced to undergo revision surgery just five years later, in 2012. Kransky’s case is the first of over 10,000 DePuy lawsuits to see the inside of a courtroom. The plaintiff, a former corrections officer, alleges that he suffered serious adverse health effects as a result of heavy metal poisoning from the DePuy, Johnson & Johnson all-metal hip implant. According to Counsel Financial, Johnson & Johnson has attributed the health issues suffered by Mr. Kransky to a long history of smoking, exposure to the chemical Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam as well as pre-existing heart and kidney disease. It is expected that Johnson & Johnson and DePuy will counter all allegations of harm by seeking to attribute those negative health effects to other issues in the plaintiffs’ lives.
Allegations by Kransky’s Attorneys
Kransky’s attorneys countered that both DePuy and its parent company Johnson & Johnson were well aware of the ASR’s design defects. A former DePuy Product Manager stated that DePuy neglected to warn surgeons that the failure rate of the ASR was at least eight times that of other similar metal-on-metal implants. The cup of the ASR is shallower than other cups, leading to excessive wear which is known to cause friction and release toxic metals into the body. A toxicologist who testified on behalf of Kransky stated the metal ions in his bloodstream were from seven to eight times the exposure levels allowed by the California Poison Control Department.
E-mail Concerns Prior to the DePuy ASR Recall
According to Bloomberg News, almost a year prior to the 93,000 DePuy ASR implants being recalled a DePuy marketing executive sent an e-mail detailing safety concerns regarding the ASR, asking DePuy and Johnson and Johnson to consider a recall. This marketing executive stated that “…I still remain concerned with the safety of this product…I do not make product safety decisions but I do have an obligation as an employee of Johnson & Johnson and DePuy to make it known when I do not feel comfortable.”
Metallosis Concerns
Mr. Kransky’s physician has testified that he was convinced Kransky would die from toxicity if the defective hip were not removed. Kransky’s cobalt levels prior to the revision surgery were over fifty micrograms per liter, dropping to 5 micrograms following the surgery. Even the FDA has recently issued updated guidelines regarding all metal-on-metal hip implants, recommending specific metal ion testing for any recipient of an all-metal implant who has experienced adverse health effects. Some of the more common effects from all-metal hip implants include pain, inflammation, difficulty in walking or other physical activity, popping and creaking sounds coming from the implant, metallosis due to high levels of cobalt and chromium in the bloodstream and failure of the implant requiring revision surgery.
Testimony from Johnson & Johnson Bioengineer
The trial, which is currently in its fourth week, has more recently seen a Johnson & Johnson bioengineer offer testimony which stated that he redesigned the ASR, finding a way to lower the levels of cobalt and chromium ion release however these changes were never implemented. In fact, this bioengineer wrote to a superior as far back as 2008 stating that “a small improvement to geometry could represent a large improvement for many patients.” By removing the groove on the ASR cup the wear and tear would be approximately three times less than the original design yet these relatively simple design changes were never implemented, presumably because of financial considerations. Jurors also heard an expert witness testify that the ASR had many design defects which resulted in the implant failing at a much higher rate than other all-metal hip implants, primarily due to the shape of the cup which has less than half a circle as well as particularly thin walls—both of which are believed to have contributed to the defective implant.
The Fourth Week of the Kransky v. DePuy Trial
Now in its fourth week, jurors heard testimony from the Plaintiff, Loren Kransky, as well as from his daughter, Jennifer Lynn regarding how her father’s health had deteriorated since he received the ASR implant. Kransky stated he felt he was being poisoned as he was in constant pain, unable to walk and truly believed that while the revision surgery would likely kill him it was the “lesser of two evils.” There are currently over 6,200 individual DePuy ASR lawsuits which have been consolidated in a federal court in Toledo, Ohio.
The first two MDL trials are scheduled to begin on May 6, 2013 and July 8, 2013. Thousands of others harmed by the ASR metal hip implant have decided to forgo federal court and bring their ASR lawsuit in state court. The first ASR trial was slated to begin in a Nevada state court on December 3, 2012, however in late August the three plaintiffs settled for approximately $200,000 each. Loren Kransky’s trial is the next DePuy ASR state trial to take place. The trial is expected to last another week and will likely set the tone for all the DePuy ASR lawsuits to follow.