J&J reportedly agrees to $4B hip settlement

Johnson &Johnson has tentatively agreed to pay an estimated $4 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits filed by patients who were injured by a flawed all-metal replacement hip the company made, The New York Times reported.The tentative settlement, which is subject to court approval, represents one of the largest payouts in history for product liability cl;aims involving a medical device. A spokesman for the company's Depuy Orthopaedics unit declined to comment on the possibility of a settlement. The agreement will cover those patients who have already been forced to have the device, known as the Artticular Surface Replacement, or ASR, removed and replaced with another artificial hip, the Times said.citing anonymous sources.