Won't move panel, say many affected by Johnson and Johnson hip implants

MUMBAI: Many patients fitted with faulty Johnson & Johnson hip implants said they won’t approach the state panel hearing compensation claims as they were never consulted while finalising the formula by the central committee in New Delhi. Some contested the selection of an orthopaedic surgeon from JJ Hospital in the committee as he had implanted patients with the device but allegedly failed to alert them about the recall.

Almost 45 days after the five-member state panel was set up with an FDA joint commissioner as secretary, only 16 applications trickled in. Even among those, only 2-3 pertained to DePuy Orthopedics-manufactured Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implant that was recalled globally in September 2010 for higher revision rates and alleged metal poisoning in patients. The committee that has already met thrice found majority claims to be erroneous.

“Many claimants coming to us don’t have the Depuy implant. Some have come with complaints against implants manufactured by other brands, a few are not even patients of hip but knee replacement, while there is one individual who underwent surgery in 2014 long after the use of the faulty implant was stopped world over,” said FDA’s joint commissioner Amrut Nikhade, who is heading the panel. Other members include a radiologist and two orthopaedic surgeons from JJ Hospital and deputy drugs controller (western region). He said that the committee’s mandate is to analyse cases and determine whether they are fit to get compensation. The compensation amount, however, will be decided by the central committee. The amount will vary from Rs30lakh to 1.2crore depending on disability, age and risk factor.

Speaking to TOI, Jennifer Bharucha, who lost her 72-year-old mother to complications post the implant surgery, said that the government panel “arbitrarily” decided on the compensation sum. “Not a single patient was involved in the process of finalising the formula for compensation. Why should we approach the state panel then?” she questioned. “Till the central committee has a dialogue with us, we will not be approaching the state panel,” she said.

Another patient who didn’t wish to be named said that he was operated by one of the orthopaedic surgeons, who is now a member of the state panel. “Is it not a conflict of interest? In fact, when the global recall happened, this surgeon made no effort to reach out to his patients and even labelled the pain and discomfort as psychological. How can we expect fairness from the committee?” the patient said.

The committee itself is ironing out the modalities to go about the process. “We are deciding on who will issue the disability certificates, or where and how the physical examination of patients will happen,” said Nikhade, adding that the meetings so far have happened at the FDA’s Bandra office or the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) office in Mumbai Central. “We will facilitate the process for patients. We are even sending forms on email,” he said.