Taking A Look at Johnson & Johnson’s Profits After The DePuy Hip Replacement Recall
The recent DePuy hip implant recall has been such a big issue that almost everyone knew about it. The assumption that the manufacturer of the implants would lose a lot of profits happen because the incident was considered to be a very negative publicity for their other products. However, this assumption was proven false as Johnson & Johnson still gained $3.42 billion worth of profits on the same quarter when the implants were recalled.
If you may remember, defective implants that were sold by DePuy to the public made a lot of people to file a lawsuit against them. This recalled implants were supposed to alleviate the pains of the patient but instead made them worse. Less profits for the company as a consequence to their irresponsibility would only be natural.
Did the DePuy hip recall ever affected Johnson & Johnson’s profits? The profits of Johnson & Johnson are still up according to the Wall Street Journal. An increase of 1% to $5.92 billion dollars even happened on their medical devices’ sales. Although there is an increase in profits, this is still seen as a poor profit because expected sales in this field are quite high. Can we consider this as an effect of the increasing lawsuits against them?
Although Johnson & Johnson has acknowledged the fact that they are not acquiring large profits this year, they do not blame it on the lawsuits that came with the recalling of their implants. Instead, the company blames it on the economic conditions that are affecting everyone in the country. Considering that recessions are happening, the company believes that people are not willing to shell out big bucks. The changing spending habits of people are being blamed on this reason.
People who have filed lawsuits against DePuy should be thankful for this. We can see a little justice for this event. It is safe to say that the public is losing their trust on Johnson & Johnson despite the company not acknowledging it. In addition, this should be a learning experience for all companies in terms of responsibility.