Turns out about 30% of ASR's were manufactured out of spec (poster at a British Hip Society meeting) and it looks like the same was true for Pinnacle. So R&D can relax - it wasn't the sucky designs or testing that hurt all those hip patients - it was manufacturing. Can you imagine what the bill is going to be when all that gets out. No wonder they wanted to settle ASR. At least this should finally tip J&J over the edge so they just call the company Synthes to run away from the bad smell?
Don't you think a name change was the plan all along? My belief was the current name was just phase 1 until people became familiar with seeing Synthes attached to orthopedics...
Yup - J&J have taken 15 years to destroy DePuy. If it takes 15 years to trash Synthes, at least the acquisition will pay.
I really thought Synthes was big enough and powerful enough to come in and make the changes needed to turn DePuy around. However, it doesn't look like that's the plan. To make a difference the top level needs to change. The top level only got more power.
Change the name so customers no longer see the association to bad products. However, keep the people who made the horrible decisions that ruined our reputation. Sounds like our typical way of running the company. Customers are not as dumb as you hope they are!