Lawyers claim victory on faulty hip joints

Richard Starkie, the solicitor investigating 90 compensation claims for York based firm Pryer’s, says DePuy International Ltd, the manufacturer of a hip replacement product recalled after being on the market for seven years following high numbers of complaints and high revision surgery rates, has agreed to pay out compensation on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Starkie says the manufacturer is not admitting legal liability by offering the compensation, and says while there will be a big difference in the amount given to each person, he expects the total figure will stretch to several millions of pounds for his clients alone.

“This is a very significant step forward for our clients”, he said. “The main legal obstacle has been removed and, while there will be some technical and medical arguments in some cases, we would expect the majority of our clients’ claims to be successful.”

Nearly 10,000 people are understood to have been fitted with the replacements nationwide with failure rates initially reported of around 12 per cent. Some experts say failure rates could be as high as nearly 50 per cent – a charge DePuy says it is unable to verify.

A spokeswoman denied any compensation agreement had been agreed and they were addressing reasonable and customary costs of testing and treatment for reasons related to the recall, including revision surgery if necessary.