subject: Recipients of DePuy's Recalled Hip Replacements Should Not Provide Information to "Joint Registry" Web Sites [print this page] Recipients of DePuy's Recalled Hip Replacements Should Not Provide Information to "Joint Registry" Web Sites
Because of the DePuy recall, calls for an artificial joint registry have increased. Government agencies and orthopedists are impressed with how the United Kingdom's and Australia's joint registries effectively helped determine that DePuy's ASR Acetabular Hip System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System fail within 5 years in 1 in 8 recipients. Efforts to create registries in the United States are underway.
However, recently DePuy victims have found themselves mislead by a law firm masquerading as a government entity that is creating an artificial joint registry, calling itself the "National Hip Recall Registry." The law firm hired a company whose purpose is to collect potential clients, called "leads," and refer them back to the law firm. The operation was so sophisticated that it even issued press releases from Washington D.C., even though the law firm was a personal injury firm in White Plains, New York. These practices are unethical, and the site has been shut down.
There are only two genuine attempts to create joint registries in the United States. One is the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), a pilot program spearheaded by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The AJRR will begin documenting joint replacement procedures 15 hospitals. It will then radiate out to other hospitals towards a total of 5,000 locations. The second registry is a government program, the National Orthopaedic Outcome Registry (NOOR), which will survey only 6 hospitals and detail patients' post-operation experiences.
Neither of these efforts is accepting independent reports from artificial joint recipients, including victims of DePuy's recalled hip replacements. If you are interested in discussing your case with an attorney, contact the Rottenstein Law Group for a free initial consultation.
