DePuy’s Internal E-mails About ASR Hip Problems
Today the jury remains in deliberation over the fate of the first DePuy ASR hip recall lawsuit in the U.S. Some of the most damaging documents that they’ve seen and read include internal emails made public during the trial. The emails are from doctors to DePuy executives discussing the high failure rates their patients are experiencing, and communication between DePuy employees about handling ASR problems.
Below are a few of those emails:
Email from David Beverland to Isaac Graham:
“All in all this ASR problem has to date been the worst problem I have faced in my surgical career – it has been a real nightmare – I am still seeing at least one patient for revision at every problem clinic.”
Email from Raphael Rascuad to DePuy management team:
“The issue seen with ASR and XL today, over 5 years post-launch, are most likely linked to the inherent design of the product, and that is something we should recognize.”
Email from David Beverland to Mick Borroff:
“My concern is that this is the tip of the iceberg and that there are many more patients out there having problems.”
2008 Email from Dr. William Griffen to Paul Berman:
“I do not use the ASR. I have been studying the ASR along with other one-piece metal shells in the lab. The ASR is not the only bad design out there but it certainly not as good as some of the others.”
Email from Dr. Sampson to DePuy about high failure rates:
“We have abandoned the use of the ASR cup due to 15-20% failures due to fibrous in growth.”
Email from Graham Isaac to Ekdahl
“Yesterday we were given some clinical data which compares metal ion levels between BHR and ASR. In essence, this shows that under certain conditions ASR is susceptible to extreme metal ion levels, whereas in the hands of the same surgeon BHR does not have the same problems.”
Email from Paul Berman (DePuy Marketing) to Jeremiah Hirsch- This is in response to the email above from Graham Isaac.
“We will ultimately need a cup redesign but the short term action is manage perceptions.”
