Forbes blogger Peter Cohan estimates that orthopedic implant companies—including Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings Inc. and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc.—will pay out $5 billion to cover legal claims that their all-metal hip implants have failed, causing new health issues.
The metal pieces of the implants allegedly generate debris as they rub against each other, and the debris is damaging tissue, causing infections and, in extreme cases, leading to crippling complications. Cohan broadcast his prediction after the New York Times published an article on the problem last week. The Times noted that private health insurers are moving in court to recover their expenses for the follow-up medical care caused by the hip implants. The federal Medicare program is expected to follow suit. Cohan estimates there will be 30,000 claims before the issue is settled. Multiply that number by likely settlement amounts—he notes it was $147,000 per patient 10 years ago in a case involving Sulzer Orthopedics—and you get pretty close to $5 billion.
A long-running dispute between two local food companies that serve nursing homes was resolved in October by Hamilton County Judge Steve Nation. Anderson-based Ru...
