Federal jury orders J&J to pay more than $1 billion to six patients who sued over artificial hips.
Bloomberg News (12/1, Korosec, 2.41M) reports a federal jury in Dallas, TX on Thursday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay over $1 billion to patients who alleged that Johnson & Johnson “hid flaws in its Pinnacle artificial hips that had to be surgically removed.” The jury found that officials at J&J’s DePuy unit, manufacturer of the hips, “knew the devices were defective, but failed to properly warn doctors and patients about the risk they would fail.” The company still has “almost 9,000 lawsuits” filed against it regarding the hips. J&J plans to appeal the ruling, arguing that the trial judge made errors that prevented the company from being able to defend itself.
Reuters (12/1, Teichert) reports there were six plaintiffs in the case, all California residents who received the hip implants and “experienced tissue death, bone erosion and other injuries they attributed to design flaws.” The New York Times (12/2, B2, Subscription Publication, 13.9M) also runs the Reuters piece in its print and digital editions.
