In a legal saga that began in November 2019, a Maryland neurosurgeon’s company, Moskowitz Family LLC, initiated legal action against medical device giant Globus Medical Inc. The lawsuit alleged patent infringement related to advancements in spinal surgery, focusing on innovations and developments by Dr. Nathan C. Moskowitz and his sons Mosheh and Ahmnon.Moskowitz sought damages […]
Legal
Medtronic to pay $31M in DoJ settlement of medical device probes
Two companies now owned by Medtronic agree to pay $31M to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice probe into the marketing of a medical device meant to treat a vascular defect in the brain for unapproved purposes and paying kickbacks to hospitals to get them to use a second product. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in […]
Carmel spine surgeon wins $112M verdict in royalty battle with Medtronic
(www.ibj.com)–Dr. Rick C. Sasso, an Indiana spine surgeon and inventor, has won a sweeping, five-year legal battle against medical-device giant Medtronic, with a jury this week awarding him $112 million in damages.Sasso, 58, president of Carmel-based Indiana Spine Group, had claimed that Medtronic had violated a contract by not paying royalties he was due for […]
Caldwell Cassady & Curry Helps Acantha Win $8.2 Million Patent Infringement Verdict Against Medical Device Giant DePuy Synthes
GREEN BAY, Wisc., Aug. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — The Dallas-based intellectual property and business litigation law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry has won an $8.2 million patent infringement verdict for Acantha LLC against medical device manufacturer DePuy Synthes, a subsidiary of health care giant Johnson & Johnson (NYSE : JNJ ). A jury of five […]
3 more doctors charged in alleged Pacific Hospital healthcare fraud scheme in Long Beach
Three more doctors are facing federal charges tied to their alleged role in a $580 million healthcare scheme centered around Pacific Hospital.David Hobart Payne, Jeffrey David Gross and Lokesh Tantuwaya join a half-dozen other defendants accused of playing a role in a 15-year-long scheme that federal prosecutors contend involved more than $40 million in illegal […]
Medicrea Files a Lawsuit against K2M Spine, Inc.
LYON, France & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Medicrea Group (Euronext Growth Paris: FR0004178572 – ALMED), pioneering the convergence of healthcare IT and next-generation, outcome-centered device design and manufacturing with UNiD™ Adaptive Spine Intelligence (“ASI”) technology, announces that on Wednesday, November 8th, 2017, Medicrea USA, Inc., filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the […]
Surgeon sues J&J’s DePuy in royalties dispute
OCTOBER 31, 2017 (massdevice.com)–A surgeon who helped Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary DePuy Synthes Spine develop instruments and implants for spine procedures wants a Massachusetts federal court to overturn an arbitrator’s ruling that the company doesn’t owe royalties on the products, according to a lawsuit filed last week in the Bay State. Dr. Carl Lauryssen and his company, Jordan […]
Nuvasive Files Lawsuit Against Patrick S. Miles To Protect Corporate Assets And Stakeholders’ Interests
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA), a leading medical device company focused on transforming spine surgery with minimally disruptive, procedurally-integrated solutions, today announced that it has filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court against Patrick S. Miles, former vice chairman of the Company and a member of NuVasive’s Board of Directors. The lawsuit asserts […]
Neurosurgeon sentenced to almost 20 years for $2.8 million healthcare fraud involving harmful surgeries
A neurosurgeon in Michigan this week was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to a $2.8 million health care fraud scheme in which he performed unnecessary invasive spinal surgeries. Dr. Aria Sabit plead guilty to 4 counts of health care fraud, 1 count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and […]
Medtronic Faces Shareholder Lawsuit Over Infuse
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota, has revived a lawsuit accusing Medtronic of defrauding shareholders by covering up adverse effects of its Infuse bone-growth product, according to a Reuters report. Writing for the appeals court, Judge Raymond Gruender said that a lower-court judge erred in finding that the plaintiff shareholders […]
Executives, Surgeons, Physicians, and Others Affiliated with Forest Park Medical Center (FPMC) in Dallas Indicted in Massive Conspiracy
Department of Justice-DALLAS — Founders and investors of the physician-owned Forest Park Medical Center (FPMC) in Dallas, other executives at the hospital, and physicians, surgeons, and others affiliated with the hospital, have been charged in a federal indictment, returned by a grand jury in Dallas last month and unsealed today, with various felony offenses stemming […]
Spine Doc Wins $20,3 Million Against Medtronic
In early November, a federal jury in Texas awarded Mark Barry, M.D., $20.3 million after finding that Medtronic, plc “actively induced” infringement of patents covering spinal deformity repair services held by Barry, who sued the company in 2014, alleging infringement of a trio of patents. Barry claimed that the company’s CD Horizon Legacy spinal system […]
Lawsuit against Medtronic questions the company’s handling of spinal device
(Star Tribune)–Medtronic faces a federal false claims and misbranding lawsuit that accuses the company of designing products for one purpose but tricking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into approving them for another to avoid expensive and time-consuming safety testing. The suit, by a former Medtronic sales representative, alleges that the company designed a […]
How a KC doctor made $38M in royalties — the most in the U.S
Dr. Roger Jackson has made a name for himself as an orthopedic spine surgeon. But the North Kansas City doctor also has earned a reputation as an inventor.Jackson tops a database of non-research payments drug and device companies made to all U.S. physicians and teaching hospitals in 2015. He reported more than $38 million in […]
Legal troubles continue over Medtronic surgical implants
Jerome Lew is a Hollywood screenwriter, and what happened to him could have come straight out of a horror film.In 2009, Lew went to UCLA Medical Center for surgery to relieve numbness and pain in his hands. The operation appeared to be a success. But he later began having trouble speaking. His left eye drooped. […]
Synthes sales consultants win $5m class action settlement
(massdevice.com)–DePuy Synthes logoOutside sales reps for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiary Synthes, who accused the company of failing to cover business expenses and illegal wage deductions, last week won a $5 million settlement in their class action lawsuit. Lead plaintiff Troy Lindell was an outside sales rep for Synthes from 1999 until 2011 in Fresno […]
NuVasive Agrees to Settle Patent Litigation With Medtronic
SAN DIEGO, CA–(Marketwired – June 30, 2016) – NuVasive, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUVA), a leading medical device company focused on transforming spine surgery, today announced that the Company has agreed to settle its ongoing patent litigation with Medtronic and certain of its subsidiaries. NuVasive and Medtronic reached agreement on terms for the settlement of the previously […]
Trial begins in lawsuit over spinal bone cement
SEATTLE (AP) — The physician who used a non-FDA-approved bone cement during a woman’s spinal surgery and the company that ran an illegal test market to promote the dangerous product should be held accountable for her death, a lawyer for the woman’s daughter told a jury Monday. Reba Golden was vibrant and healthy when she […]
Johnson & Weaver, LLP Launches an Investigation into the Fairness of Price and Process in Proposed Sale of LDR Holding Corporation
SAN DIEGO, June 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Shareholder rights law firm Johnson & Weaver, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of LDR Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: LDRH) breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZBH). Additional Information: LDR is a […]
Senate Panel: Docs Owning Device Companies Have Conflict of Interest
May 10 (Bloomberg BNA.com)— Spinal surgeons participating in a physician-owned distributorship (POD) saw 24 percent more patients than non-POD surgeons, increasing the possibility of unnecessary surgeries and patient harm, according to a Senate Finance Committee report released May 10. The report from the committee’s Republicans, which updates a 2011 report, said spinal surgeons participating in […]
Woman drops lawsuit against Drobot hospital over “counterfeit” spinal screws
SANTA ANA, Calif., April, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — An Orange County woman has dismissed her lawsuit against HealthSmart Pacific, former owner of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, after it was revealed that the spinal implants used in her surgery were not counterfeit, as she alleged in the wake of similar, highly publicized claims by a group of […]
Globus Medical won’t be deposed in patent infringement lawsuit
PHILADELPHIA (http://pennrecord.com) – An Audubon-based medical device manufacturer will not be forced to provide documents or give deposition testimony in a patent infringement lawsuit originating in federal court in Texas. In January, Globus Medical, Inc., a company that produces musculoskeletal implants to aid patients recovering from spinal injuries, received a subpoena from a Hawaii-based physician […]
NJ Doctor Escapes Most Claims In Suit Over Spinal Implants
Law360, New York (March 2016, ) — A New Jersey doctor escaped most of the claims brought against him in federal court by a patient who accused him of medical malpractice after devices implanted in her spine failed, but he’s still facing negligence charges in the heavily trimmed case. U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman […]
Globus Medical Announces Litigation Settlement Agreement
AUDUBON, Pa., Jan. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Globus Medical, Inc. (NYSE:GMED), a leading musculoskeletal implant manufacturer, today announced DePuy Synthes Products, Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales, Inc. and Globus Medical, Inc. have settled four patent infringement lawsuits concerning spinal implant technologies. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed but were to the parties’ […]
Spine Surgery: A Tale of Greed and Corruption
All too often, where there’s substantial money to be made, greed and corruption inevitably follow. Such appears to be the case in the world of spine surgery, with the Department of Justice recently releasing the latest details regarding “Operation Spinal Cap,” an ongoing federal investigation into an alleged series of kickback schemes that generated an estimated […]
Judge Unseals CerviCore Accusations Against Stryker Spine
After the fourteenth CerviCore alleged victim filed a lawsuit on Friday, Judge James D. Bates of the Lucas County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas ruled that the accusations against CerviCore’s manufacturers cannot be filed under seal and must be made publicly available (1). Zoll & Kranz, LLC have been involved with the CerviCore litigation and […]
Whistleblower lawsuit leads to 32 more hospitals settling Medicare fraud allegations
WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Thirty-two hospitals in 15 states agreed to pay more than $28 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit brought by Phillips & Cohen LLP alleging that the hospitals overcharged Medicare for a type of back surgery known as kyphoplasty. More than 130 hospitals have now reached settlements with the Justice […]