Defective Hip News

A couple is suing Johnson & Johnson, alleging their toddler son was killed after taking defective Children's Tylenol from a batch that had been recalled - part of the company's continuing string of recalls of drugs and medical devices.

A report, published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal, found that patients who received so-called metal-on-metal implants were more likely to require repeat surgery than those who received traditional implants.

Michael Stieler and his wife, Darlene, weren't surprised when a notice arrived last September from the company that manufactured his artificial hip, DePuy Orthopaedics: His all-metal hip was being voluntarily recalled because of its early failure rates as well as its potential for shedding high levels of cobalt and chromium into the bloodstream.

The artificial joint implanted in Lebeda's body had been recalled. Its makers, DePuy Orthopaedics, recalled the ASR Hip System in August because it was wearing out faster than expected in some patients. But Atlanta attorney Richard Schlueter, who's representing about 30 metro Atlantans with the defective hip, said DePuy downplayed side effects that are far more serious.

A recently recalled artificial hip made by a unit of Johnson & Johnson, designed to last 15 years or more, is failing worldwide at unusually high rates after just a few years.

PRAIRIE COUNTY - A Prairie County jury awarded $10.3 million to the family of an Iraq war veteran who was burned while rescuing his wife and two children after a devastating collision on I-40 on July 22, 2008.

Mark Rogers and his family were traveling through Arkansas while on vacation when their car was corralled by several tractor-trailers near mile marker 203 outside Biscoe. One of the rigs ignited, and the fire spread, setting Rogers' car on fire. His was the only door that would open, so the 34 year old escaped and kicked in the windshield to rescue his wife, daughter and son.

In total, six tractor-trailers were involved in the catastrophic accident that left three of the four Rogers family members severely burned.

Jim Wilkes and Brian Reddick represented the Rogers family. Five of the companies settled before the trial for a total of $20.5 million. U.S. Xpress, Inc. denied liability and the case went to trial on Sept. 23, 2010.

Wilkes argued that U.S. Express Inc. driver Charles Daniels was following too closely that day and rear-ended a tractor-trailer owned by Triad Transport Inc., causing it to trap the Rogers family in their burning Pontiac. Daniels failed to maintain appropriate speed and distance, and violated other safety regulations, according to the lawsuit.

It took the Prairie County jury only two hours to deliberate.

At the time of the accident, Mark Rogers was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves. He had recently returned from his second tour in Iraq, where he served as a combat engineer. In an ironic twist of fate, Staff Sgt. Rogers was a K-9 handler who searched for explosives in Iraq with the goal of maintaining safe highways.

J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics said it was recalling its ASR XL Acetabular System and ASR Hip Resurfacing System -- both used in hip replacement surgery -- due to the number of patients requiring a second hip replacement procedure, or a revision. Some 93,000 people around the world have the ASR hip implant.