The U.S. Drug Watchdog – a private company that monitors medical devices and pharmaceutical companies in the United States – has urged patients who have been implanted with faulty hip replacements to make claims for DePuy compensation individually.
The statement comes as many class actions suits are being prepared against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc and its parent company Johnson & Johnson following the recall of the ASR Articular Surface Hip Replacement System and the ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System due to a “higher than expected” failure rate.
The U.S. Drug Watchdog fears that DePuy hip recall compensation claims made collectively may see some patients who suffer more debilitating injuries as a result of the faulty hip implants lose up to 100,000 dollars in DePuy compensation. The company advocates making claims for DePuy compensation individually in order that everybody will receive a fair and adequate level of compensation.
According to the U.S. Drug Watchdog, settlement of class action claims for DePuy compensation in the United States will also prove to be a slow process, with more than 5,000 claimants currently listed in the Multi-District Litigation taking place in Ohio. Further delays may occur due to an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department into the role of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in the promotion of faulty hip replacement systems.
DePuy Orthopaedics were recently found guilty of defrauding the national social insurance program – Medicare – and one of four companies fined a total of 310 million dollars by the U.S. government.