This article is from page 12 of the 2013-10-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
AS MANY as 30 people from Clare are taking a case against the company behind the faulty De Puy ASR hip replacement implanted in more than 3, 500 Irish patients between 2003 and 2010.
The legal firm behind the suite understands there are 170 more Clare people affected by the faulty implant and have advised them that it is not too late join the civil action.
De Puy ordered a recall of the medical device in 2010.
In a case against the company in Los Angeles, it was alleged that a Belfast surgeon emailed De Puy engineer Graham Isaac in May 2006 outlining his concerns about the device.
The New York Times also published revelations that one type of the defective devices were marketed in Europe after the US food and drug administration rejected their sale in America in 2009.
Now personal injuries law firm Peter McDonnell and Associates is holding an information meeting for Irish patients affected by the De Puy Hip Recall of 2010 on Monday week, October 21, in The Old Ground Hotel, Ennis.
Mr McDonnell, said whilst many of the 3, 500 public and private patients throughout Ireland who received the defective De Puy ASR Hip Resurfacing System – typically used in younger, more active patients – and the ASR XL Acetabular System, have already set the litigation process in motion, the vast majority of those who have been adversely affected are under the incorrect impression that the deadline, known as the Statute of Limitations, has already passed.
“Many patients whom I have spoken with throughout Ireland are under the impression that it is too late for them to submit a claim against De Puy. This, however, is not the case,” he said.
Of the 3, 516 Irish patients who received the implants, about 400 have had them replaced.