A woman from West Virginia in America has made a claim for metal poisoning compensation against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. after high levels of biologic toxicity were discovered in her blood stream.
Delores Hatcher, from Wheeling in West Virginia, is the latest name to be added to the growing list of DePuy hip recall compensation claims after meta cobalt and chromium-1 were discovered in her blood – ions which are acknowledged to cause cardiovascular and neurological health issues. Delores received her DePuy ASR hip replacement system in November 2009, but within months was experiencing pain in the region of the implant and was finding it difficult to walk.
In April, the results of Delores´ blood test indicated that she was at risk from the high levels of metallic ions in her blood and, after seeking legal advice, she made a claim for metal poisoning compensation against DePuy Orthopaedics. In her claim Delores also alleges that DePuy and their parent company – Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals – concealed known defects of the hip replacement system and used “unjust enrichment” marketing practices – something for which DePuy Orthopaedics have already been fined by the U.S. Attorney´s Office.
Advice: All recipients of metal-on-metal hip replacement devices are advised to have a minimum of one blood test each year to check for the presence of metallic ions – active people, likely to create more friction within the hip replacement device, should consider increasing the frequency. If you are found to have a level of cobalt or chromium higher than 7 particles per billion, it is likely that revision surgery will be required.