Medtronic Infuse—Another Bone of Contention (Lawyers and Settlements)
Another Medtronic Infuse bone graft lawsuit has been filed against the company, again for providing misleading information about its bone graft product.Humana, the health insurer, filed the false claims lawsuit on May 30 in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee (Humana Inc. v. Medtronic Sofamor Danek USA Inc., 14-cv-02405). According to Reuters, Humana said it paid for the Infuse product “when less expensive and more medically sound alternative procedures were available,” and that Medtronic misrepresented the Infuse product by “overstating benefits and minimizing serious risks,” with the intention of expanding the market.The lawsuit further alleges that the giant medical device manufacturer sponsored academic publications that misrepresented Infuse bone graft and paid doctors to promote the Medtronic bone graft product as safe to use in different spinal surgeries, i.e., off-label, even though the FDA only approved it in 2002 for lower-back procedures.Humana claims that Medtronic paid $210 million to a number of physicians (known as “key opinion leaders” because they can influence the types of pro...
