Medical Device Manufacturer Faces Trial on Hip Implant Poisoning Allegations

Bloomberg News reports that after setting aside $2.5 billion last year to resolve claims that 8,000 of its artificial hips were defective, Johnson & Johnson “faces a new round of lawsuits over another line of hip implants blamed for poisoning patients.” The company’s DePuy unit “is readying for the first trial of allegations that the metal-on-metal version of the Pinnacle hip was defectively designed and caused metal debris to leech into patients’ bloodstreams.” More than 6,000 cases concerning the devices have been consolidated before a judge in Dallas for pretrial information exchanges. From the AAJ News Brief for September 2, 2014.