The Supreme Court on Friday disposed off a public interest litigation that sought action against multinational medical devices and pharmaceuticals manufacturer Johnson & Johnson for its faulty hip implants after noting that steps have been taken to compensate the victims, The Economic Times reported.
The court accepted the Centre’s formula, according to which patients will get compensations between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 1.23 crore depending on their age and the level of disability. The court asked the Centre to publicise the scheme.
The hip implant devices, known as DePuy ASR, were manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics Inc, a fully-owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The patients who got the implants had to undergo revision surgeries due to severe pain in their hip, inability to walk, destruction of bone and deposition of harmful metal debris of the implant inside body tissue.
The Supreme Court also rejected Johnson and Johnson’s plea that this order will influence another related case in the Delhi High Court. In December, the High Court had refused interim relief to the pharmaceuticals company, which had challenged the Centre’s compensation formula. The judge had posted the matter to February 26 saying it would be inappropriate to pass any orders in the matter as the Supreme Court was hearing a different case related to the compensation.
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