Company Says Patients Liable for DePuy Hip Replacement

Chicago, ILDespite a hip replacement recall of 93,000 implants last August, DePuy, a Johnson & Johnson company, may still be calling the affected patients liable, NBC Chicago reports.

After having surgery to have her right hip replaced two years ago, Chicago woman Scotty MacGregor can't walk very far without experiencing excruciating pain.

"I was told I was walking bone on bone," she said, adding that she didn't fear the surgery at all. "People have said hip replacement is one of the easiest surgeries, and I had total confidence going in."

According to an attorney representing MacGregor and 80 other affected patients, the company is telling the patients to turn in their bills for the product, despite the recall and the fact that "the company has admitted that this is a bad product."

After the voluntary recall, the company acknowledged that "a higher than expected number of patients required a second hip procedure," and that it had received a study that indicated a failure rate of 12 percent, according to the news provider.

Thus, in addition to the pain, the affected patients are now fighting the fact that they have to pay for the surgery that caused the suffering, the news source said.