Exclusive: Hip victims unite against US firm

Pryer's Solicitors has taken up the cases of nearly 60 people, 38 of whom are from North Yorkshire, who say they were fitted with hip replacement products manufactured by United States company DePuy Orthopedics Inc, which were recalled last year after being on the market for seven years following high numbers of complaints and high revision surgery rates.

Nearly 10,000 people were fitted with the replacements nationwide – many of whom were in Yorkshire – with failure rates initially reported of around 12 per cent.

But Richard Starkie, the solicitor investigating the compensation claims for Pryer's, has told the Yorkshire Post he believes the failure rates could be as high as over 50 per cent with as many as 6,000 afflicted.

"We have had quite a few enquiries over the past few weeks, between four and five people every day", he said, "It makes me think there are an awful lot of people who know nothing about this.

"The problem is particularly impacted in North Yorkshire and there is a higher number of people in York that have been fitted with the product than elsewhere."

Now a new support group has been launched in York by one woman who claims to have been fitted with a faulty hip replacement, to urge hundreds of other sufferers across the region to come forward.

Farmer Penny Hodgson, a 49-year-old mother-of-two from Easingwold who is setting up the group, said: "I wasn't aware that there were so many people out there who have been through this.

"I felt very alone at first and thought it was just me who was being incredibly unlucky.