DePuy Hip Recall Claims in the USA
Most personal injury claims made in the USA are against an individual or company who have acted negligently and caused you to sustain an injury, but DePuy hip recall claims for compensation are different. DePuy hip recall claims are made under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 – an Act of Parliament which protects consumers against damage, loss or injury arising from defective products.
The key section of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 for those wishing to make DePuy hip recall claims for compensation appears in Section 3, which defines a product as defective when “the safety of the product is not such as persons generally are entitled to expect”. There is no requirement in DePuy hip recall claims to prove negligence by the manufacturer, just that the goods as supplied were faulty.
Eligibility to Make DePuy Hip Recall Claims
Although the criteria for making DePuy hip recall claims is straightforward, in order to make claims for DePuy hip recall compensation, it must be demonstrated that a claimant has sustained damage, loss or injury directly attributable to the faulty hip replacement. This means that if revision surgery has been required due to a surgical error when the implant was fitted, or that revision surgery is required due to an infection unconnected with the faulty hip replacement, you will not be eligible to make DePuy hip recall claims – although there may be a case for medical negligence compensation.
In order to establish eligibility to make DePuy hip recall claims, both your lawyer and DePuy´s loss adjusters will need to examine your medical records where there should be evidence of an injury due to the failure of an ASR Articular Surface Hip Replacement System or an ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System*. It is not in your best interests to allow DePuy access to the faulty hip replacement system which was removed from you during revision surgery, as this may be used in evidence in future litigation. Therefore, DO NOT SIGN THE DEPUY CONSENT FORM or any other sent to you by their loss adjusters (Broadspire Limited) without first speaking to a lawyer.
* The ASR Articular Surface Hip Replacement System and ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System were recalled by DePuy Orthopaedics in August 2010. If you have sustained an injury due to any other DePuy model, or any other brand of hip replacement system which has proven to be faulty, please contact us for further advice.
DePuy´s Offer of Hip Recall Compensation to USA Residents
DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. has acknowledged it responsibility for the injuries which have been sustained due to the company´s faulty product; however it has only offered to cover any costs associated with patient testing, revision surgery, “reasonable” out of pocket travel expenses and lost time from work – and only after you have signed a medical release form which discharges them from future liability.
There is no provision within their “offer” for the pain and suffering that a victim of their faulty product has experienced, the deterioration in their quality of life – both prior to revision surgery and during the recovery period – and the emotional trauma of having to undergo revision surgery without knowing if system toxicity (due to the metal particles released in the DePuy hip replacement failure) will affect your health later in life.
Making a Claim for DePuy Hip Recall Compensation in the USA
Consequently, in order to receive fair and adequate DePuy hip recall compensation, you will need to make a DePuy hip recall claim. The DePuy hip recall claims process is not entirely dissimilar from making a claim for personal injury – however, with thousands of claimants making DePuy hip recall claims for compensation, the process may take longer to resolve than if you were making an individual personal injury claim for an injury sustained in a car accident or at work.
The first stage of making a claim for DePuy hip recall compensation in the USA is to speak with a lawyer. Your lawyer will ask you to tell him about your injury, how it affected your quality of life and those around you, when you had revision surgery, how long it took you to recover and how the long period of immobility affected you. If you have not yet had revision surgery, it is still recommended that you speak with a lawyer as there are time constraints (see below) for making DePuy hip recall claims.
Your lawyer will register your claim with Broadspire Ltd (DePuy´s USA loss adjusters) and you will be sent a medical mandate form requesting authorisation for DePuy to access your medical records. This form is best completed with the assistance of a lawyer to ensure that any sections relating to the surrender of the faulty hip implant to DePuy is deleted. The form is returned to Broadspire Ltd and your lawyer will then chase the company to see whether they are prepared to settle your claim for DePuy hip recall compensation or whether court action will be necessary.
Time Constraints for Making DePuy Hip Recalls Claims in the USA
As mentioned above, the governing legislation for DePuy hip recall claims is the Consumer Protection Act 1987. Under this Act, claimants usually have three years from the time they are aware that an injury has been sustained (the “date of knowledge”) in which to make claims for product liability compensation. However, Schedule 1 of the Act states that “no claim can be brought more than 10 years after the date the product was put into circulation”.
As the DePuy ASR Articular Surface Hip Replacement System and DePuy ASR XL Acetabular Hip Replacement System were both introduced in 2003, this means that DePuy hip recall claims for compensation must be filed before the end of 2013 to avoid being time-barred. It is therefore of the utmost importance that if you have not already spoken with a lawyer about DePuy hip recall claims for compensation, you do so at the first possible opportunity.
Further Information on DePuy Hip Recall Claims in the USA
If you have any non-medical questions related to DePuy hip recall claims in the USA, you are invited to call our service and speak directly with a lawyer experienced in making DePuy hip recall claims for compensation. Our lawyer will be able to provide you with the latest developments relating to DePuy hip recall claims and give you advice about how these may influence your own entitlement to make a claim for DePuy hip recall compensation.
There is no obligation on you to proceed with a claim for DePuy hip recall compensation once you have spoken with our lawyers, nor will any information you divulge to us be passed on to any third party. Our lawyers acknowledge the pain and suffering experienced by all victims of DePuy´s faulty hip replacements, and will treat your call with courtesy and empathy.
The telephone lines to our service are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you would like to schedule a call-back from an experienced DePuy hip recall claims lawyer, kindly complete your details in the box at the foot of the page, and one of our team will get back in touch with you at a time which is most convenient.