Mumbai: In two separate cases, the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed Johnson & Johnson Ltd, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc, and DePuy Medical Pvt Ltd to pay compensation of Rs 35 lakh each to two women, now senior citizens, who had to suffer several medical and financial hardships due to faulty hip implants . In one case, the osteoarthritis patient, Lalita Rajpurohit, managing director of a cooperative credit society, submitted that she was forced to give up her job due to the limited mobility caused by the implants. The other complainant, Usha Gupta, had undergone the surgery after experiencing pain in her right thigh for almost a decade and said that she was unable to walk, climb up, and come down the stairs without aid and assistance following the surgery.
In both orders, relying on several documents and the remedial measures and instructions of the US Food and Drug Administration, the commission said there appears to be no other conclusion except that the metal-on-metal implant was creating metal debris at the joint. This was the root cause for component loosening, infection, fracture of the bone, dislocation, metal sensitivity, and pain in at least 13% of patients, mostly women. "In view of the aforesaid evidence, we found that ASR (Acetabular System Resurfacing) hip implants, metal-on-metal manufactured.
.. suffer from inherent manufacturing defects and released a harmful amount of metal debris, which was poisonous," the commission said.
The allegedly faul.