Driscoll
Two people who received a metal hip replacement are suing the manufacturers of the artificial joints after they allegedly failed repeatedly.
Ada Maldonado and Wayne Burley filed the lawsuit Jan. 24 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Inc. and DePuy International Limited. Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. and Johnson & Johnson, International are also named as defendants.
According to the complaint, Maldonado, a resident of Illinois, received a DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System in her right hip at Chicago's Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in September 2008. Burley, who lives in North Carolina, was implanted with a similar replacement joint in his right hip at a Fayetteville, N.C., hospital in August 2007.
Both Maldonado and Burley claim their new metal-on-metal implants caused several serious complications, including repeated dislocations and fractures of the bones around the artificial joint. The plaintiffs say they each underwent revision surgery within two years of the initial operation and finally had to have the DePuy ASR implant removed.
Maldonado and Burley allege DePuy, a division of Johnson & Johnson, knew its product design was defective yet continued to manufacture and market the ASR Acetabular System to doctors and patients. They claim the company failed to properly test the product and then failed to warn consumers of the dangers of using its implant.
DePuy and Johnson & Johnson are accused of negligence and fraud. Maldonado and Burley ask for more than $250,000 in damages for medical expenses, loss of income and court costs.
Attorney John J. Driscoll of St. Louis is representing Maldonado and Burley.
St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 12-L-45