Johnson & Johnson Hid Data
If the patient can no longer walk away, we feel that the corporation should not be able to walk away from criminal penalties.
Johnson & Johnson hid data about a design flaw in its A.S.R, hip. In 2005, the company began to hear complaints about this hip that had been heavily marketed to young and athletic patients. The flaw caused large quantities of metallic debris after the implantation. In 2007, it failed an internal test when the results of that test were compared with other hips.
But they kept selling the flawed product. Executives insisted, despite their own studies and extensive reports, that the hips were working well.
Over 33,000 patients in the United States have received these hips and today, there are over 10,000 law suits. One of our members who received this hip has had four surgeries to try to correct the problem. She has been told, either she keeps having surgery or she will be in a wheel chair for the rest of her life.
Shame. Think of the human cost - and the needless financial cost. Criminal accountability seems only fair.
Lobbying works - and so do financial contributions to elected officials. Our fiscal cliff bill, passed recently, included a provision that helps Amgen evade Medicare price cutting controls by delaying the price restraints on a class of drugs used by kidney dialysis patients. Amgen just happens to have 74 lobbyists in DC and because of the inclusion of that provision in the bill, it will cost Medicare up to $500 million over a two year period.