Johnson & Johnson Ignored Duragesic Pain Patch Defects, Lawyer Says
Johnson & Johnson Ignored Duragesic Pain Patch Defects, Lawyer Says
Bloomberg.com
By Jef Feeley
NEW BRUNSWICK – Johnson & Johnson officials knew some of the company's Duragesic pain patches for treating pain had defects and failed to warn consumers, a lawyer argued in the first federal product-liability case to go to trial over the devices.
Executives at J&J's Janssen Pharmaceutica Products and Alza Corp. units "turned a blind eye" to reports that some patches leaked, Jim Orr, a lawyer for the family of Adam Hendelson, said Tuesday. The family contends that the 28-year-old Florida man died of an overdose of the pain medication released by his patch.
The companies "knew that leaking patches were coming off their assembly line," Orr told jurors in federal court in West Palm Beach, Fla., in opening arguments in the trial of a lawsuit filed by Hendelson's family over his death. The Johnson & Johnson units "provided no warning at all," he said.
<< BACK TO DANGEROUS DRUG NEWS ARCHIVE