A Hermanus woman is one of 170 South Africans who are set to sue hip replacement manufacturer DePuy in a British court.
|||Cape Town - A Hermanus woman is one of 170 South Africans who are set to sue hip replacement manufacturer DePuy in a British court for damages related to a recall of hip implants.
Martha Maria de Kock, 62, says she has lost partial vision in one of her eyes, walks with a limp, and experiences chest pains as a result of her surgery.
Fifty more individuals will join the case in the next few days, said Sunelle van Heerden of CP van Zyl. Medical malpractice attorneys at the law firm are suing the manufacturing company because of health- related issues such as the ones De Kock is experiencing.
De Kock has had three DePuy hip replacements: She received her first in 2005, and another in 2008. This past June she received her third hip replacement, and what her doctor found was disturbing.
“The flesh around the hip was black, they had to cut it out,” said De Kock. “There was a lot of fluid they had to drain.”
De Kock did research online and discovered other recipients of the hip replacement were experiencing similar symptoms of chest pain and loss of vision. Soon after, she was contacted by the legal team at CP van Zyl to join the case against DePuy.
“Not a day passes that you don’t think about this whole story, because you don’t know what is going on inside your body,” said De Kock.
De Kock’s surgeon saw her limping and asked her to come in for an examination. After blood tests, the doctor found that the elderly woman had an extremely high amount of cobalt metal in her blood, she said.
Since she is unable to walk properly, De Kock has been forced to give up her work as a financial manager of her husband’s business. She has had to hire another employee to take on her work, which is an additional expense.
More than 170 South African claimants will sue DePuy in a British court for damages related to a recall of hip implants, their lawyers said.
“Our South African clients were unable to sue DePuy in South Africa, and therefore started proceedings in England instead,” said Sunelle van Heerden.
They intend seeking millions in damages, claiming to have suffered injuries as a result of hip implants manufactured in England by DePuy - the DePuy ASR XL total hip replacement system and the DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System.
“The dismissal of DePuy’s jurisdiction objection means that the claims can now proceed,” Van Heerden said.
Cape Times