Digging Deeper: Johnson & Johnson Hip Implant Saga

On July 12, 2018, Reuters reported that a Missouri jury had ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay a record-setting $4.69 billion to 22 women who had claimed the company's talc-based products including its baby powder, contained asbestos and had caused them to develop ovarian cancer.

So, well, the company's skirmishes with consumers are old news, though its response to patients in India, according to observers, reeks of discrimination.

Johnson & Johnson’s eventual recall of Acetabular Surface Replacement (ASR), a faulty hip-implant in India brought into focus many niggling questions about standards of healthcare even for those who can afford to spend money on expensive procedures, the trust patients invest in companies they buy healthcare equipment from, and the legal ramifications post a breach. And the reasons why such breaches are made possible, in the first place.

The crisis also brought to the fore several other institutional issues. As Dr. Dhvani Mehta, writing for The Quint, pointed out, the crisis sparked outrage on many fronts – “the seeming brazenness of the company in applying for an import licence although it knew its devices were faulty, the inexcusable lethargy of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in cancelling the company’s import and marketing permissions, and the bewildering delay in setting up an expert committee to conduct a thorough enquiry.”