Depuy Hip Replacements

Editorial contrasts J&J then and now

An opinion piece in USA Today contrasts health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s actions in 1982, when seven people died after taking Tylenol spiked with cyanide; and in the late 2000’s when concerns started to emerge about the company’s all-metal hip implants.

In 1982, the piece says, the company pulled millions of bottles off store shelves within days, and quickly introduced tamper-resistant packaging that became an industry standard.

“Its speed and candor ...

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DePuy hip implants called a ‘debacle’

A story in the San Francisco Chronicle describes the DePuy Orthopaedics articular surface replacement hip implant as one of the largest medical device failures in history.

The article recounts the experience of a California woman who continued to suffer increasing pain after having her hip replaced in 2006. In 2010, a doctor finally informed her that she had one of the all-metal devices made by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics, ...

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Another J&J medical device recalled

In the latest of a long strong of product recalls, Johnson & Johnson is recalling and replacing more than 2 million meters that diabetics use to measure blood glucose levels, manufactured by the company’s LifeScan unit.

According to Reuters, the problem is a failure to operate properly at extremely high glucose levels.

The report says no patient injuries related to the malfunction have been reported in the United States. The company said ...

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Document contradicts DePuy president’s claims

Andrew Ekdahl, president of Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics division, has testified that the company recalled its ASR hip implants because they weren’t meeting “clinical expectations,” and not because the company believed they had an underlying design defect.

But lawyers in a Chicago trial over injuries allegedly caused by the devices have produced a document that appears to contradict Ekdahl’s statement.

A Bloomberg story references a document from the Health Hazard/Risk Evaluation ...

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Bonuses cut for executives at troubled J&J

According to a story on the Huffington Post, Johnson & Johnson has lowered its planned bonuses for the company’s top executives by 10 percent.

A statement from the company acknowledges “disappointments” from 2012, and resultant damage to the company’s public reputation.

Johnson & Johnson’s annual proxy statement says, in part: “We worked to address several reputational challenges and continue to strive toward regaining the reputational standings that we expect of ourselves and ...

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Buffett sours on Johnson & Johnson

Health care giant Johnson & Johnson’s legal troubles are apparently giving investor Warren Buffett pause, according to a blog item for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Buffett recently released his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, and it shows that Berkshire had dropped its holdings of Johnson & Johnson stock to below $1 billion for the first time since the end of 2005.

The blog item notes that Johnson & Johnson has gone ...

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