DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, has issued a voluntary recall of a metal hip implant amid complaints of severe pain and worries that it might put patients at a risk for dementia and heart failure.

Since 2003, DePuy has sold nearly 100,000 units of the artificial hip device all across the country.  According to experts, problems have arisen because of friction between two portions of the device.  The friction of these parts, which are made of metal, cause small particles to shave off and enter the patient’s tissue and bloodstream which then cause severe pain and the risk of deafness, dementia, and heart failure.  In August, DePuy issued a recall of these devices and now recommends that implant patients have a blood test to check for high levels of the metals used in the implant, chromium and cobalt.

Kirk Pinkerton’s Bill Robertson is representing people who have been harmed by this defective product.  “The pain and suffering caused by this defective hip device is excruciating,” Robertson said.  “Worse, the need to undergo additional, major surgeries and the costs and expenses associated with medical care and recovery make this both a physical and economic nightmare for those effected.  These damages can be devastating over the long term for younger people who were the specific target of some DePuy and Johnson & Johnson marketing.”

For more information concerning DePuy’s recall please call Bill Robertson at (941) 364-2433.  More information can also be found through ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/depuy-hip-implant-recalled/story?id=12287543&page=3