Orthopaedic firm poised for payout

Sulzer Medica recalled the joints after warnings

By Emma Jane Kirby BBC correspondent in Geneva

A US judge is to begin the final hearing on a proposed multi-million dollar settlement for more than 2,000 people who were fitted with faulty artificial hips and knees.

Sulzer Medica, the Swiss-based company that supplied the plastic joints, has been pushed to the verge of bankruptcy following the lawsuits.

Sixteen months ago, the company recalled an artificial hip joint which had been fitted in a few thousand elderly patients in the United States, after warnings that the joint was faulty.

More than 2,600 patients had to undergo fresh operations after being fitted with the faulty hip joints and a further 500 patients had to face more surgery to refit artificial knees.

Monday sees the final fairness hearing of a proposed $1bn (£682m) settlement for the plaintiffs at the US District Court in Cleveland, Ohio.

If the judge accepts the case, the patients will receive around $200,000 each.

Testing times

The court case comes at a particularly fraught time for what is Europe's biggest orthopaedics company.

Last Friday, the company saw its shares plummet by nearly 20% for a time after the Medical Devices Agency, a UK regulatory body, issued a hazard warning about a heart valve tester.

The tester is distributed - although not made - by Sulzer Medica's subsidiary, Sulzer Carbomedics.

When a tester broke during surgery, at a British hospital, a patient died.

The company has since ordered replacement testers to be supplied to the hospitals and is supporting an investigation into the incident.