Johnson & Johnson admitted in internal company documents that it knew that 40% of its Articular Surface Replacement device would fail within five years, according to today’s New York TImes.But the giant corporation never released those projections to the public. And it denied a British report which detailed that the ASR’s early failure rate was almost 50%, compounding its fraud.
J&J continued to sell the ASR devices until it was sued.
As a result, many people, often elderly, have had to have painful and expensive surgeries to repace their hip implants. About 10,000 have filed suit against the DePuy Orthopaedics division of the company. Over 93,000 implants were performed around the world.
And thousands more of the all-metal hip implants, which grind together and release metallic debris that permanently damages a patient’s bone and tissue and can possibly cause death. They will fail prematurely in the next few years, causing additional pain and surgeries.
The first trial begins Friday in Los Angeles and will provide a guide to future litigation.
I am not handling any of these cases, since I have chosen to specialize in motor vehicle collisions, but I find the corporate deception troubling. I hope that the plaintiffs prevail in their lawsuits and that justice is served.