Johnson & Johnson may be nearing a settlement over hip replacements manufactured by its DePuy subsidiary. The New York Times reports that the company may agree to pay out close to $4 billion over the Articular Surface Replacement hips which shed metal fragments in patients as the devices wore down.
The New York Times says the number has to be approved by the court and the total could change, since the number of eligible patients has to be determined. The current estimate is that a settlement could affect 7,000 to 8,000 patients.
The company has been taking an increasing amount of heat over the faulty hip replacements: as noted by the Times the hips were not just faulty, but company documents show the subsidiary knew there were problems with the design.
