series of ethical decisions both to protect the public and to protect its brand-name and image.
The Johnson & Johnson Company dates to the mid 1880s and began with the development of the first ready made, ready to use surgical dressings, which was also the first practical application of the theory of antiseptic wound treatment. This new product was based on a new surgical concept and led to a dramatic reduction in the threat of infection and disease, which was a major threat to patients in the nineteenth century. The company details this history on its website, noting how the development of this first product began with the discoveries of Sir Joseph Lister, a noted English surgeon, when he identified airborne germs as a source of infection in the operating room. This new concept of tiny living organisms, unseen and deadly, was difficult for many to grasp, and many surgeons of the era were contemptuous of Lister's work. Robert Wood Johnson heard Lister speak in 1876 and set out to find a practical application of Lister's teachings. He sought a new type of surgical dressing, one that would be ready made, sterile, wrapped and sealed in individual packages, and suitable for instant use without the risk of contamination. Before Lister and his theories, the postoperative mortality rate was as high as 90 percent in some hospitals as surgeons contaminated their own patients by operating ungloved with unsterile instruments. The methods suggested by Lister for avoiding this problem required complex and cumbersome equipment possible only in the largest hospitals, while smaller facilities could not hope to be sterile even if they accepted Lister's theories. The method used was to spray a solution of carbolic acid around the operating room and to bathe the patient in a foggy mist of the substance (Johnson & Johnson, "Company History").
Robert Wood Johnson joined with his two brothers, James Wood and Edward Mead Johnson, to form a p...