DePuy hip recall victims can consult this Legal FAQ for DePuy hip replacement surgery injury

Perhaps you or a loved one was injured due to a defective medical device known as a DePuy ASR Hip System in hip replacement surgery. If so, you may need a defective medical device lawyer or attorney to press a DePuy hip recall lawsuit  for gaining the fair financial compensation to which you are legally entitlted.

That means you may have questions about legal issues involving your case. These answers to your possible questions may help:

1. I’ve had pain since my hip replacement surgery. How do I know if I have a DePuy injury?
A. If your hip implant was provided since 2003, you may have a defective DePuy hip implant If it was before 2003, you do not. To learn if your surgery in 2003 or later involved a DePuy device, ask your physician or surgeon. Or, notify a hip replacement surgery lawyer with DePuy-hip-surgery-lawsuit.com. He or she can make the proper inquiries to determine if you were given a DePuy device.

2. Everyone has pain after surgery. How do I know if mine involves a defective Depuy medical device, and how serious can that be?
A. Very serious indeed. For its DePuy hip implants, DePuy used a relatively new and experimental product involving metal-on-metal for the ball-and-socket joint implanted to replace your hip. Such DePuy hip implant devices have proven to be defective, in that when metal grinds against metal, it releases tiny shards of chromium or cobalt -- both toxic -- into the body. Such particles can enter the bloodstream or collect near bones and tissue, damaging them. They also can cause intense pain to victims.

3. How extensive is this problem? Am I one of the few suffering, or are there many more?
A. DePuy sold 37,000 of its defective DePuy hip implants in America, and 93,000 worldwide, before DePuy yanked them off the market for their defects and failures via a DePuy hip recall. Of those, it’s expected that about one in eight persons, or 12.5%, may suffer a DePuy hip implant injury. That means about 5,000 persons in America may suffer due to the defective product known as a DePuy hip implant.

4. What is the timetable for such injuries to arise?
A. A DePuy hip implant was supposed to function flawlessly for 15 years. Instead, many DePuy hip implants are failing within the first five years after hip replacement surgery, sometimes even within a few months.

5. In its DePuy hip replacement recall, did DePuy offer to compensate people for possible injuries?
A. That depends on how you look at it.  In its DePuy hip recall, DePuy tries to appear generous  by offering to pay for “revision” surgery in order to remove its defective implant. But that implant then goes to DePuy, which can use it as evidence against victims by claiming that they, themselves, were responsible for their injury. Further, DePuy has brandished what it calls a “help line” on its website for DePuy hip recall victims to call. Yet this line helps only DePuy, by virtue of being run by an insurance adjuster whose job is to diminish claims for damages, and who tape records phone conversations in hopes that victims will say something that can be used against them if the case becomes a hip replacement lawsuit.

6. Does DePuy have the money to pay for such injuries, or might it declare bankruptcy and keep me from recovering financially?
A. DePuy and its parent company definitely have the money. Since 1998 it’s been owned by Johnson & Johnson, an enormous global giant in pharmaceutical products and medical devices -- and one with its own bad record of defective products. Johnson & Johnson made profits of $15 billion in the second quarter of 2010 alone. Johnson & Johnson can afford to pay you for the injuries it caused via its own negligence.

7. What sort of payments might I expect?
A. In a personal injury lawsuit for a defective medical device, victims can seek financial compensation for medical costs associated with that injury. They also can seek compensation for any lost wages or salary, present or future, due to the injury. They also can seek economic compensation for the pain and suffering they’ve endured due to someone’s negligence.

8. What are the specific names of the failed DePuy products leading to such DePuy lawsuits?
A. Two DePuy hip implant products are involved in the DePuy hip recall, both in the category of a DePuy ASR Hip System. One is the ASR Hip Resurfacing System. The other DePuy hip implant is known as an ASR XL Acetabular System. Your physician should be able to inform you whether one of these DePuy hip implants was used in your hip replacement surgery.

9. If I choose to pursue a lawsuit, will it be lumped in with others as a class action lawsuit?
A. Not unless that’s what you want. DePuy-hip-surgery-lawsuit.com can pursue justice and economic recovery for you as an individual in a DePuy hip implant recall lawsuit in your name.

10. Will I have to appear in court?
A. That’s possible, but unlikely. The majority of personal injury lawsuits are settled out of court without need for a trial.

11. How much will legal services cost me?
A. You only pay if your case prevails in court or via an out of court settlement, and then as a percentage of your financial recovery.

12. How do I start?
A. Simply fill out and submit the brief free case evaluation form on this website, or call toll-free to 1-800-332-9988. A legal representative of DePuy-hip-surgery-lawsuit.com will respond promptly to help you assess your DePuy hip implant recall case.