BloombergBy Jef Feeley & David VoreacosNov 12, 2013Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) will pay more than $4 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits over its recalled hip implants in the largest settlement of U.S. legal claims for a medical device, three people familiar with the deal said.The accord will resolve more than 7,500 lawsuits in federal and state courts against J&J’s DePuy unit, said the people, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the settlement. Patients who have had hips replaced claimed in the cases that the implants were defective.
The company will pay an average of $300,000 or more for each of those surgeries, the people said. The agreement doesn’t bar patients whose artificial hips fail in the future from seeking compensation from J&J, they said. That means the settlement is uncapped in terms of its total value, according to the people. The settlement is expected to be announced next week in federal court in Toledo, Ohio.
The agreement “resolves a lot of litigation that could have dragged on for years and cost J&J much more money in the long run,” said Carl Tobias, who teaches product-liability law at the University of Richmond in Virginia. The settlement will be the second multibillion-dollar agreement this month for J&J, the world’s largest seller of health-care products. J&J, based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, said Nov. 4 that it will pay $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil probes into the marketing of Risperdal and other medicines…hat tip to pharmagossip…
Can’t wait for the next lawyer ad on Fox News:
“If you’ve used a Johnson and Johnson product in the past 10 years and your life is at all having problems, you might be able to collect on the latest of never ending class action suits our firm will be filing against this company. Call this number 1-666-scum law today!”
You know what the real number is? 1 800 BAD DRUG !!!
So many of you here rail about psychiatrists and mental health, well, who do you think is behind much of the crap that is PPACA? Lawyers.
But, as long as people keep telling you there is a free ride and no consequences, people keep getting in line, eh?
If they had to pay out billions in personal injury suits, it would serve them right.
Dr. Hassman,
You may rail at lawyers for the injured–or is it your opinion that ALL injuries are fake?–who seek redress from Big Bad Pharma for harm done. As in any population, there are cons and crooks among the patient base; likewise, there are cons and crooks in the legal profession. But my question has always been this: How many of these BAD drugs could patients access without a doctor’s signature on a prescription pad? There’s plenty of blame to go around–and your profession is NOT blameless. My hope would be that there is also enough ethics, honesty and compassion in these populations to set a better course going forward.
You are missing the point, if J&J continues to be successfully sued for anything and everything that can go wrong, intentional or coincidental, it will set a precedence for ALL health care industry innovators to close up shop.
And then when innovations dry up and care truly returns to burr holes and leeching, who ya gonna call?!
Lawyers are a major player to rising health care costs, and the sheer disingenuous and dishonest omission of tort reform by the Democrat ilk and their cronies, well, you’ll get what ya pay for, folks.
Next year’s campaign number: 1-800-BAD VOTE!
Dr Hassman – A bit more [alright, a heck more] altruism would do a lot to rectify this. I know, it is the way the world isn’t…yet there is hope The high schooler who invented a promising test for pancreatic cancer
Went to work today at a major academic medical center. Got an invite to a high class steak joint in town from Janssen rep for Invega Sustena. Said no thanks. Jeez!!!
I thought dinners were illegal for drug companies to do?
no such thing as a free lunch, eh, to those who prey on the concept of reciprocity???