Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft: Long List of Perks for Docs

Anchorage, AKPatients who underwent the Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft may be surprised to learn that Medtronic has been accused in a lawsuit of providing surgeons with a number of incentives to use Medtronic products. According to the Wall Street Journal, doctors were given a wide variety of gifts to induce them to use the Infuse Bone Graft.

According the article, a lawsuit filed by a former Medtronic lawyer claims the company used entertainment at a strip club and trips to Alaska as incentives for doctors. Furthermore, the doctors were given patent royalties on inventions even though the doctors were not involved in inventing those specific products. The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed in US District Court in Memphis in 2002.

According to the lawsuit, kickbacks were Medtronic's "culture and way of doing business." The lawsuit further alleges that Medtronic paid for dancers' services during "VIP visits" to a strip club in Memphis. Finally, the lawsuit claims that Medtronic's consulting agreements with over 100 surgeons were simply an incentive to induce doctors to use Medtronic's products over competitors' products.

Companies are prohibited by federal law from inducing doctors to use products that are covered by either Medicare or Medicaid. The lawsuit names Medtronic and 10 doctors as defendants and helped lead to a $40 million settlement between Medtronic and the government. At least two other whistleblower lawsuits have also been filed by former Medtronic employees. Those lawsuits also claim that Medtronic had inappropriate financial relationships with some doctors.

Medtronic responded to the Wall Street Journal article by stating that it has put systems in place to ensure that the company's ethical standards are followed. Last year, Medtronic's spine business reported $3 billion in revenue.

Senator Charles Grassley is now investigating whether or not the incentives led to off-label use of the Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft. Off-label use of Infuse Bone Graft has been linked to life-threatening side effects including swelling of the throat, difficulty breathing and difficulty swallowing.

Meanwhile, patients are left wondering whether their doctor used Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft for off-label purposes. Some say they had no idea that Infuse Bone Graft was not approved by the FDA for their specific surgery. Of course, when these things go wrong, it is the patient who suffers, not the doctor and rarely, if ever, the device maker. The patients deal with wondering whether or not they will suffer the life-threatening side effects. Those that do experience adverse reactions experience extreme pain and sometimes require hospital visits or further surgeries to correct the problem—all for something they thought was guaranteed to help them.

Imagine finding out that your doctor used a product because the company that made it gave him gifts for doing so. That would probably cause you to question whether or not the product was really the best choice for your situation. Now imagine suffering adverse side effects and learning that your doctor was given gifts for using that product. It would probably make you very angry, at the least.

Some people are taking out their anger by investigating lawsuits alleging that Medtronic illegally promoted the off-label use of Medtronic Infuse Bone Graft.