Nolan Auerbach & White reports that in 2011, this very same company which continues to be a leading medical device manufacturer, paid $16 million to resolve our client’s allegations that it paid kickbacks to physicians to prescribe its products. According to the complaint that we filed on our client’s behalf, St. Jude Medical made payments to doctors ostensibly for the collection of data in connection with post-market clinical studies of the company’s products in the form of registries; however these payments were designed and used as a means of increasing sales of its devices over competitors, not as bona fide scientific research. The Complaint also alleged that St. Jude Medical shelled out payments to doctors for entertainment, tickets to sporting events, and other gifts and benefits. These alleged practices caused government health care programs to pay millions of dollars for prescriptions that were tainted by illegal kickbacks.
Oops! Did St. Jude Do It Again?
According to news reports dated May 7, 2014, Minnesota-based St. Jude Medical, Inc. is allegedly facing scrutiny by the Department of Justice for paying kickbacks to doctors. St. Jude reported that they have been subpoenaed by the feds as part of an ongoing investigation into whether they paid doctors so they would use its cardiac devices. St. Jude is reportedly cooperating in this investigation.