Did a hip implant, mesh, or pump hurt you instead of helping you?

We can help you understand what to do next.

Are you in an emergency right now?

• Call 911 if you have chest pain, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding, or any sign your device is failing right now.
• Get to an emergency room if a device malfunction may be putting you in danger.
• Do not remove, adjust, or stop using an implanted device yourself. Only a doctor should do that.
• This page is for after you are safe.

This page covers defective medical device claim deadlines and what to do right now. We are the injured person's advocate. We connect you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves. Always free. Talk to an advocate. We usually reply within minutes, at most one business day.

Medical devices go through review before they reach patients, but reviews are not perfect. Devices fail. When enough people get hurt, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. agency that oversees medical devices and drugs) can order a recall. Recalls do not undo an injury that already happened, but they confirm that a real problem exists.

Why defective device cases are tricky

These cases are not like a simple slip and fall. A few things make them harder to sort out on your own.

• The FDA keeps a public recall database. You can search it by device name or manufacturer to see if your device was recalled and why (FDA Medical Device Recalls).
• The FDA also runs MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience), a database of reports about device problems, injuries, and deaths sent in by manufacturers, hospitals, and patients. It is free and public (FDA MAUDE database).
• Recalls have levels. A Class I recall is the most serious. It means the device could cause serious injury or death. For example, the FDA classified a Medtronic insulin pump issue as a Class I recall after it was linked to thousands of injuries and one death (MedTech Dive).
• When many people are hurt by the same defective product, federal cases from around the country are often grouped into an MDL (multidistrict litigation). An MDL sends similar cases to one judge for shared discovery (the fact-finding stage) and pretrial work. Each case still stays its own case. It is not a class action, and it does not decide your case's value for you (Nolo, MDL for product liability, U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation).

A medical device case is one type of defective product claim. This is general information, not legal advice about your specific case. Every device and every injury is different.

What real device cases have paid

These are publicly reported results from real news coverage. They show how widely cases vary. They are examples only. No one can promise or predict what any case is worth, and many cases resolve for far less.

• $1 billion+ settlement: C.R. Bard reached a global settlement in 2024 covering an estimated 38,000 federal and state hernia mesh lawsuits (news coverage summarized by ConsumerNotice.org).
• $502 million verdict: a Texas federal jury awarded five plaintiffs after finding Johnson & Johnson liable over its DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant (Cochran Firm coverage of the verdict).
• $4 billion settlement: DePuy and Johnson & Johnson settled about 8,000 lawsuits over the ASR hip implant in 2013, then added $420 million more for about 1,800 additional cases in 2015.
• $1 billion settlement: Johnson & Johnson agreed in 2019 to settle nearly 6,000 cases involving the Pinnacle hip system.
• About $2.2 billion in settlements: Stryker resolved claims tied to its Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implant systems.

We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. The point of these numbers is simpler: serious device injuries carry serious lifetime costs, and the system can respond to them when a case is handled well.

Talk to an advocate. You do not have to sort out recalls, MDLs, and lawyers alone.

When it goes wrong: a true story

A man in Scotland, Graham Robertson, spoke publicly about the "devastating impact" of a mesh implant. He described ongoing pain and health problems years after his surgery, and said the toll on his daily life was severe (BBC Scotland).

Stories like his are common in mesh and implant cases. Symptoms can build slowly, and patients are often told at first that what they feel is normal healing. The lesson is not that Graham did something wrong. The system is slow to recognize device problems. Talk to an advocate. Tell them what happened, and they will introduce you to a lawyer who documents your symptoms and follows up.

What to do in the first days

1. Talk to an advocate at WeHelpInjured. It is free.
2. Check your device against the FDA recall database. Search by the device name, model, or manufacturer to see if it has been recalled (FDA Medical Device Recalls).
3. Keep every piece of device paperwork: the implant card, box, model and serial numbers, discharge notes, and any letters from your doctor or the manufacturer.
4. Start a dated symptom journal. Write down pain, limits on movement, missed work, and any new problems each day.
5. Warning: don't wait! The filing deadline is a trap. It is different in every state, so people wait, and waiting kills cases. The longer you wait, the fuzzier memories get and device paperwork gets lost. Talk to an advocate immediately. And important: medical claims can have different, often shorter deadlines. Do not assume the standard rule covers a device or doctor case. Find your state on our state pages.

Never do these

• Never stop using, remove, or change your device or medication on your own. Talk to your doctor first.
• Never give a recorded statement to an insurance company, even your own. Talk to an advocate first.
• Never sign anything from the manufacturer or its insurer without talking to an advocate first. Once you sign, you may not be able to undo it.
• Never assume a recall does not apply to you without checking the FDA database yourself.
• Never wait to report a serious symptom, hoping it will pass on its own.

What we can help with

• Understanding what happened and what your rights are, in plain language.
• Explaining how to find and read the FDA recall and MAUDE listings for your device.
• Connecting you with a lawyer who handles cases like yours, so you get the full settlement your recovery deserves.

All of it is free to you. We never take money from injured people.

Talk to an advocate. A device that let you down is scary enough.

Sources

• FDA, Medical Device Recalls database: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfRES/res.cfm
• FDA, MAUDE (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience) database: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfmaude/search.cfm
• MedTech Dive, Medtronic insulin pump recall tied to 1 death, more than 2K injuries: https://www.medtechdive.com/news/medtronic-insulin-pump-recall-tied-to-1-death-more-than-2k-injuries-fda-s/572185/
• Nolo, Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) for Product Liability Cases: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/multidistrict-litigation-mdl-drug-lawsuits-32952.html
• U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, official site: https://www.jpml.uscourts.gov/
• ConsumerNotice.org, summary of hip replacement and hernia mesh settlement news: https://www.consumernotice.org/legal/hip-replacement-lawsuits/
• Cochran Firm, coverage of the $502 million J&J Pinnacle hip verdict: https://www.cochranfirm.com/washington-dc/502-million-jj-hip-replacement-lawsuit-verdict/
• BBC Scotland, mesh implants patient story: https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-46591850