Boston Scientific To Pay $30 Million To Settle False Claims Act Allegations
October 17, 2013 – As Reported in the Corpoate Crime Reporter, Boston Scientific Corporation, and its subsidiaries Guidant, LLC, Guidant Sales, LLC, and Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc. will pay a combined $30 million to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly selling defective heart devices to health care facilities that secured reimbursements through Medicare. The alleged misconduct occurred between 2002 and 2005. The crux of the allegations involved continued marketing and sale of defective heart devices, even after the company learned about the cause of certain defects and took steps to hide these problems from patients, doctors, and the Food and Drug Administration.
As alleged in this case, instead of disclosing the problem, Guidant issued a misleading communication to doctors regarding the nature of the defects and did not fully disclose problems with the devices to doctors and the FDA until May, 2005, after first being contacted by a New York Times reporter. Only after that did the company recall the defective devices. The Government’s settlement resulted from a False Claims Act qui tam whistleblower lawsuit brought by James Allen, a patient who had received one of the defective devices. The Federal Government intervened in Relator Allen’s whistleblower suit in 2011. As part of the settlement, Whistleblower Allen will receive $2.25 million.
Young Law Group, P.C., represents whistleblowers in the United States and abroad, in a variety of cases, including IRS Whistleblowers, False Claims Act (Qui Tam), and SEC related fraud. For a free confidential consultation, please call Eric L. Young, Esquire at (800) 590-4116 or fill out a form.