After the cancellations of four scheduled trials, the hearing for the first DePuy ASR hip lawsuit has finally commenced in Los Angeles early this year. The plaintiff in this case is Loren Kransky, a former corrections officer, who was implanted with an ASR hip system for his chronic joint disease.


Opening statements were made on January 25, 2013 and the prosecution did not waste any time presenting documents which may be very damaging to the defense. Lawyers for the complainant intimated that the device was flawed from the start and was not subjected to rigid testing. It further hinted that officials of Johnson & Johnson were well aware of an internal report which revealed that the ASR hip systems had design defects.

It was alleged that instead of pursuing plans to rectify the design flaws, officials decided to use other tests and standards. According to the lawyer of Kransky, “They changed the test and tested it against other things until they found one it could beat.”


Read More: Trial Update:J&J Execs Knew About ASR Design Flaw, Did Nothing

Osteoarthritis is a very common ailment that most men and women among us may experience it to a certain degree if we live long enough. Over 50 million Americans are affected by this disorder and this will increase as more people get older.

The main cause for this disease is the wear and tear of the joints over the years with other cases caused by medical conditions and factors which serve to increase the risks. Hemophilia, avascular necrosis, and other types of arthritis have been known to cause osteoarthritis. Injuries to the joints, being overweight, engaging in activities that strain the joints are some of the factors that increase the chances of getting this disease.

While this may be part of our ageing process, we do not have to meekly accept this and live in agony for the rest of our lives. We do not have to watch with envy other people going through with their lives in a normal manner while we remain immobilized. Simple changes in our lifestyles may go a long way in easing the pain or preventing it from getting worse.

Some of the things we can do right now are the following: 

• Maintain an active lifestyle by engaging in light exercises that preserve the joints and their movements. Swimming and other water exercises are strongly recommended since weight is neutralized which in effect eliminates stress placed on the joints. Asking your healthcare provider for recommendations on the best type of exercise would be advisable. 

• Maintaining the ideal weight would help a lot in easing the pain on the joints since the extra weight adds stress to the cartilages which interferes with the bones, thus increasing the chances of inflammation, pain, and swelling. The best thing to do is work with an expert and come up with a program for your weight maintenance. 

• Another way to address this condition is by applying heat and cold treatments. When joints become swollen, hot, and tender, the best solution would be heat since cold would make it very painful. Applying ice to the joints may prevent pain especially after these joints have been stressed due to work or overuse. 

• This condition is greatly alleviated by following a healthy and balanced diet. While there are some foods that are recommended, there are also a lot of foods that are prohibited which patients must stay away from.

These are just a few suggestions that can ease the suffering and allow us to go through with the usual daily activities. Expensive medications and costly surgeries may be avoided by simply following these simple tips. By making it manageable as much as possible, we might not have to go to extreme measures such as hip replacements.

This is the last thing we want and we could do worse by having defective hip implants as what is being experienced by thousands of sufferers right now. Serious complications have been felt by many users due to these devices and which has led to several complaints such as the Depuy ASR hip lawsuits. More information on this is available at depuyasrhiplawsuit.com.

Reference:
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001460/
ehealthmd.com/content/what-hip-replacement#axzz2IPO6hwoB