For most people when Johnson and Johnson is mentioned they think of baby shampoo. But Johnson and Johnson is also one of the largest medical device producers in the world. They make everything from stents and sterilizing equipment to imaging and EKG machines. Recently though J&J was caught bribing doctors, hospitals and governments in foreign countries across Europe and Asia to use or exclusively use J&J products. This is highly unethical not to mention illegal. J&J has opted to settle out of court for $70 million before the trial without admitting guilt. In all fairness these allegations were all made against J&J subsidiaries and when J&J found out they actually brought it up to the US government. So in all fairness J&J acted very ethically it was J&J's foreign subsidiaries that deserve the wag of my finger. Bad J&J subsidiaries. It is nice to see that there is still companies J&J Corporate Headquarters who do the right thing in bad situations.
We have become so used to stories like this. The corporations are abusing their power, surprise. J&J could still be behind it all. They may have understood they could put the blame on their subsidiaries if anyone found out.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I were involved in a class-action against J&J a while back--people were donating their loved one's bodies (after death) to UCLA for scientific research, but it turns out some hood there was then selling the bodies to J&J for product development. This was particularly hard on my husband, who had been involved in one of the donations.
ReplyDeleteSometimes things are legal, but that doesn't make them right.
I worked for Covidien, J&J's competitor. While I was working there, they were working on medical devices that were going to push J&J out of the lead in many product lines. I guess J&J just helped Covidien out a little further.
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