Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. attorney Navan Ward, Jr., who practices in the firm's Mass Torts section, has been chosen to help direct litigation related to the recall of 93,000 defective hip implant parts. Ward is one of 19 lawyers selected to oversee the consolidated litigation as part of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee (PSC).
It was announced this weekend that federal cases involving defective hip implant parts manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, will be consolidated in federal court in the Northern District of Ohio under U.S. District Judge David A. Katz. The hip implant parts were recalled August 26 after research indicated patients who received the parts required a much higher than usual rate of revision surgeries.
It used to be that the average patient for a hip replacement surgery was between 65 and 80 years old. The surgery, first performed in 1960, is a major undertaking, involving one of the body's larges weight-bearing joints. However, advances in technology and surgical techniques, combined with today's expectations about continuing strenuous or challenging physical activities later in life have contributed to a growing population of younger patients.
Just days before Johnson & Johnson announced a voluntary recall of hip replacement parts the company received a warning letter from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) about illegally marketing other joint replacement products. Both the recalled hip-replacement parts and the joint replacement products are manufactured and distributed by J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. subsidiary.
Johnson & Johnson was sued by a California construction worker over an implanted hip-replacement device that the drugmaker stopped selling last month after defect reports surfaced.
