Johnson & Johnson sued for allegedly malfunctioning hip replacement devices

Johnson & Johnson has been implicated in thousands of lawsuits regarding an allegedly malfunctioning all-metal hip implant. According to Bloomberg, one witness testified that the organization failed one of its own safety tests and ended up changing the protocol instead of fixing the issue at hand. 

The consultant George Samaras testified on behalf of Loren Kransky​, who had his hip replaced with the ASR XL artificial hip last year. More than 90,000 ASR implants were recalled in 2010 after 12 percent were found to malfunction within five years. Another expert witness claimed that data shows the device will fail 44 percent of the time after a seven year period.

“It’s horrible practice,” Samaras, who is also a biomedical engineer, said in court. “That’s not what good engineers do. You are playing games with what the requirements for the device are … They changed the test … They didn’t do what they were supposed to do, which is change the design.”

The safety test required a metal ball on top of the femur to rotate, but the devices allegedly failed to meet the necessary standards. Legal analysts have said that these lawsuits may cost Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars, which shows the importance of keeping consumer safety a top concern. Otherwise, companies run the risk of severe financial losses. 

Companies in Arizona could benefit from investing extra finances in testing and improving their products before  bringing them to market. Following consumer safety laws is important  if businesses are to maintain positive public images and avoid costly lawsuits. As such, working with Phoenix business attorneys could be beneficial for any entrepreneur concerned with customer satisfaction.

Categorised in: Business Law

This post was written by