TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Citing their personal health problems and costs incurred, Florida women who have been seriously injured by pelvic mesh implants asked Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for its dangerous pelvic mesh implants.
“We call for Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Johnson & Johnson and its CEO Alex Gorsky for selling dangerous products to women throughout Florida. The damage this product has caused already has cost taxpayers too much money through Medicaid and other state public health systems,” stated Jane Akre, who has been organizing survivors of pelvic mesh implants for more than five years.
“Across Florida, women are being hurt by Johnson & Johnson’s dangerous products, and the company’s top executive, CEO Alex Gorsky, needs to be held accountable for the women he has hurt,” added Akre. “Pelvic mesh implants are perhaps the most dangerous product to women’s health on the market today. Gorsky should immediately pull pelvic mesh off the market, and his delay in doing so is a slap in the face to women across Florida.”
More than 70,000 separate lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers of pelvic mesh implants. Local survivors in Florida signed on to today’s request for an investigation.
“Too many women in Florida have been robbed of their livelihoods by Johnson & Johnson,” stated survivor Leslie Adams of Florida. “Mesh implants are simply too dangerous for the human body."
According to the letter, Johnson & Johnson and its CEO Alex Gorsky may be in violation of Section 501.204 of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for deceptive business practices concerning both his corporation’s knowledge of the inherent danger of the mesh implants as well as the document destruction.
Indicating that Johnson & Johnson knew how harmful pelvic mesh implants were, the company destroyed thousands of documents regarding the safety and efficacy of the implants. Although top company executives initially denied it, a magistrate judge found that Ethicon, the wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson that manufactured the implants, destroyed documents pertaining to their effectiveness and safety as far back as 2007. Alex Gorsky, the current Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, was named head of Ethicon in 2008 before most of the documents were destroyed and has continued to oversee it in his climb through the company’s ranks.
See the letter to Attorney General Bondi here: http://johnsonandjohnsonhurtswomen.org/request-for-investigation-delivered-to-florida-ag-pam-bondi/
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