Our firm is now litigation hundreds of suits against Johnson & Johnson for defective metal-on-metal implants. Their subsidiary, DePuy, marketed these implants to doctors as safer and longer lasting than other types of implants on the market.
When failing DePuy ASR and Pinnacle hips were reported in England and Australia, DePuy blamed doctors for poor implantation. However, the truth came out on DePuy ASR hips when Johnson & Johnson announced a complete recall.
With the recent Risperdal court decision in December 2011, we see the same corporate behavior: a judge has upheld a $327 million civil penalty against Johnson & Johnson for blatantly overstating the safety and effectiveness of its antipsychotic drug.
There have been similar whistleblower suits in other states for kickbacks, over-promotion and illegal marketing. Much of the damaging evidence was in emails, and we expect the same to occur in the DePuy ASR and Pinnacle litigations.
The over-promotion of dangerous psychotic drugs is particularly harmful to the elderly, where drug companies convince nursing homes to use these drugs for much more minor ailments. Also, every taxpayer is hurt as Medicaid and Medicare is getting swindled for inappropriate medication.
David B. Rheingold, Partner
David specializes in an active trial practice primarily involving drug products, medical device liability and product liability cases. On both a state and national level, he has obtained substantial client settlements through arbitration, mediation and direct negotiations with some of the largest national and international drug and medical device makers. David has been involved in multiple high-profile legal cases including the $2.5 billion DePuy ASR and DePuy Pinnacle metal-on-metal hip implant settlement plan and the $1.4 billion Stryker Rejuvenate metal-on-metal hip implant settlement plan.
