Logo of CBS News (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Dr. Stephen Tower, an orthopedic surgeon, became a victim of a the Depuy ASR hip which has been recalled and my claim was defectively designed, tested, manufactured, and represented to consumers. The FDA had cleared the device without testing based on "substantial equivalence" to earlier similar devices. Use of metal parts over plastic was supposed to give the patient more mobility so they could participate in all kinds of physical activity.
After a year, he had high levels of chromium and cobalt in his blood and his hip was constantly painful. He started having other problems like disturbed sleep, mood swings, anxiety, hearing loss, and tinnitus, constant ringing in the ears. The symptoms got so bad he couldn't go to work. Even though he kept calling the DePuy engineers, they claimed they never had any problems with the device. Then a British Medical Journal and BBC Newsnight investigation revealed that millions of people with similar implanted devices also had high levels of toxins seeping into their bloodstream.
HealthPop reported that the investigation showed that the chromium and cobalt ions leak into surrounding tissue and destroy muscle and bone, eventually spreading to lymph nodes, the spleen, liver and kidneys and potentially causing damage. The ions also had the ability to change a person's chromosomes, meaning genetic changes.
