Recipients of a controversial metal-on-metal hip replacement implant say they were guinea pigs for a faulty device that has left thousands of people in constant pain and others with heavy metal poisoning.
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On the opening day of a Federal Court class action against the company that designed the metal hips, DePuy, and the product's distributor Johnson & Johnson, the victims of the devices demanded that those responsible be held to account.
"A lot of these people are elderly, they're dying - it's time for this to be settled so they can have compensation," one member of the class action, Janis Boys, said.
"I had nothing but pain for three years. It affected my whole life and my relationship with family and friends.
"My surgeon said it was the Rolls-Royce of hip replacements ... [the companies] knew that wasn't the case."
The class action is representing 1891 people who have had DePuy ASR hip replacement devices implanted.
However, this figure could increase as statistics maintained by the Australian Orthopaedic Association's National Joint Replacement Registry show that, between 2003 and 2009, more than 5000 DePuy ASR implants were surgically implanted across Australia.
In December 2009, Johnson & Johnson withdrew the DePuy ASR hip implants from sale in Australia.
In March 2010, Johnson & Johnson issued a Safety Alert in relation to the DePuy ASR hip implants and in August 2010 it issued a Hazard Alert.
In his opening address to the hearing, counsel representing the implant recipients, John Sheahan, QC, said the devices had been "a failure, both clinically and commercially" with devices having to be removed at a rate of up to 39 per cent.
He said that ASR devices had featured a special design that was initially intended to reduce friction and wear, and increase the range of movement for recipients.
However, the design in fact led to greater wear as the metal ball ground against the metal socket.
Mr Sheahan said that DePuy had not undertaken proper clinical testing of the implant, despite the variations in the design.
He also said that, by mid-2005, DePuy was aware of problems with the device and the fact that these were exacerbated by the difficulty experienced by surgeons in implanting them effectively.
He is expected to argue that, as a result of the metal ball grinding against the metal socket, traces of the metals cobalt and chromium were released into the blood streams of the recipients and that, in some cases, they suffered serious infections in their leg bones.
This forced many to have multiple revision surgeries, with some having to have their hips replaced four or five times.
The hearing continues.
