DePuy Parent Company CEO Receives Pay Cut After DePuy Recall

Posted Tue, 03/22/2011 - 14:44

William Weldon, the CEO of Johnson & Johnson (the parent company of DePuy Orthopaedics) has suffered a cut in his total compensation amid company troubles, including the DePuy hip replacement recall.

The decrease in total compensation for Mr. Weldon, from $25.6 million to a modest $23.2 million dollars, was disclosed in an SEC filing and reported by the Journal Gazette on March 31, 2011. This report follows two years of declines in sales, spurred by a poor economy as well as the many challenges to the company’s reputation in the form of recalls. Household names like Tylenol have been marred, and the reputation of its manufacturing company, Johnson & Johnson, tarnished.

One such recall, contributing to the decline of Johnson & Johnson and its chief’s subsequent pay cut, is the DePuy hip replacement recall. Recent reports indicate that up to 49% of those implanted with the device may have to undergo painful revision surgery within a mere 6 years of initial implant surgery. Data has been available for quite some time now, suggesting the poor performance of the DePuy hip replacment as compared to competing devices. However, DePuy Orthopaedics, under Johnson & Johnson, only recalled the hip implant this past August.

This late recall of a highly defective product is a poor reflection on the diligence DePuy Orthopaedics and its parent company Johnson & Johnson purportedly employ in ensuring the safety of its products. That the company continued to defend its product as equivalent to competing devices despite medical evidence to the contrary is negligent. Patients continued to be implanted with the DePuy hip replacement long after DePuy officials had been approached by medical professionals with serious concerns as to the safety of the company’s product.

It is only right that Johnson & Johnson’s CEO share in the damage which results from the company’s negligence. Thousands of patients have been implanted with the defective DePuy hip implant worldwide. The damage caused by a defective implant includes the shedding of metal debris which can cause severe pain and may even develop into a serious case of metallosis. In many cases, a complex and painful revision surgery is required to correct the defective DePuy hip replacement device.