Hip Recall Victims Beware, DePuy Wants Your Medical Records For Their Benefit

SEATTLE, WA, October 17, 2010 (Press-News.org) DePuy Orthopaedics, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, made a voluntary recall for their ASR XL Acetabular System which was sold in the U.S. The recall was sparked by the discovery that 12-13% of patient's metal-on-metal implants failed within just five years time, prompting a painful revision surgery.

Two days before the hip replacement recall was made public, DePuy sent a letter to orthopaedic hip surgeons to alert them of the recall. In addition, they provided an informational packet and medical release form to be passed out to patients.

"We strongly advise anyone with a DePuy hip to avoid signing that form," stated Kirk Bernard of the Bernard Law Group based in Seattle, WA. Bernard is a DePuy hip recall lawyer with experience handling other mass tort cases such as the Sulzer hip recall. "By signing that form, you give DePuy the right to review at all your confidential medical records and to take possession of the defective implant after revision surgery."

DePuy has offered surgeons $50 for every medical release they convince their patients to sign. This act doesn't come as a surprise considering the company had paid millions of dollars since 2007 to surgeons who endorsed their product and wrote favorable articles about the hip implant in medical journals.

"Paying surgeons to encourage their patients to sign away their confidential medical records does not put the patient's best interest at heart," claimed Bernard. "DePuy is only in this for DePuy. By obtaining the medical records of their affected patients, they will use that information against the person during litigation."

The defective hip implant is one of the most critical pieces of evidence that a patient has in their claim. Therefore, the last thing you want to do is turn that over to DePuy. Instead, you should arrange to have it tested by an unbiased, third-party who can effectively determine how the implant failed and which defects caused the failure.

"The bottom line is simple. You put your faith in DePuy once, trusting that they would deliver a proper hip implant. They failed you. The last thing you want to do is trust them with your medical records. More than likely, they will find a way to use that information against you in the event of a lawsuit," said Bernard.

Over the past 30 years, the Bernard Law Group, based in Seattle, Washington, has assisted more than 10,000 clients in the recovery of more than $250,000,000. Bernard is a Seattle personal injury lawyer with experience in many mass tort cases.

Website: http://www.4injured.com