Doctors Should Not Fear Malpractice Lawsuits by Patients with Recalled Depuy Hip Implants

Doctors Should Not Fear Malpractice Lawsuits by Patients with Recalled Depuy Hip Implants

When Sulzer Orthopedics recalled thousands of knee and hip replacements, almost a quarter of all possible claimants simply signed a release without consulting a lawyer. This meant that these victims received the least possible settlement from Sulzerwhich included no compensation for lost wages, future medical expenses, or pain and suffering. Victims and their doctors don't necessarily know or appreciate that a lawsuit against DePuy would not have any malpractice component. Claims would be brought against DePuy as the manufacturer of the faulty device alone. Doctors of the victims have no reason to recommend against lawsuits, which they might do for fear that they, the doctors, will be named in the suits and be exposed to professional liability.

In product liability law, when someone is injured by a product, multiple parties may be responsible. Responsibility may be allocated to all parties involved in the product's life, from the initial design, to the manufacturing process, to the mishandling (or tampering) of the product by sellers and resellers, and even to the end-users. With artificial implants, the implant may have no defects while the patient's injuries may be caused by the surgeon's negligence. Malpractice is a serious claim, so much so that even in March of 2010 DePuy placed responsibility for its now-recalled hip implants' defects on surgeons for implanting them improperly. The company has an enormous stake in shifting responsibility to other partiesdoctors make an easy target.

It goes without saying that each person's hip implant procedure is different. Some people may not need revision procedures; many experience extreme pain soon after the initial operation. It may also be true that surgeons negligently inserted a hip implant. However, the circumstances surrounding the DePuy hip implant recall lawsuits suggest that the company and not the surgeons should be held responsible for the implants' defective designs. If surgeons are responsible, DePuy can file its own lawsuits against them. The vast majority of recalled hip implant recipients would gain little from filing lawsuits against their own doctors in the face of DePuy's recall.

Ultimately, whether a recipient of a recalled DePuy hip implant believes his or her doctor is responsible is up to the recipient. Most lawyers, including those at the Rottenstein Law Group, suspect lawsuits against doctors would be costly and unhelpful. Thus, medical professionals should not fear informing their patients of the hip implant recall and that patients should consider filing lawsuits against DePuy.

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