Unnecessary Stent Lawyers announce website for cardiac patients (USA)

The attorneys at Morgan and Morgan have announced that a website has been launched for patients who have undergone a cardiac catheterization or stent procedure. The site was developed in light of reports that some doctors and hospitals may be unnecessarily ordering these procedures in an attempt to increase their own revenue. On the site, patients can learn more about these allegations and find out how they can determine whether their cardiac stent procedure was necessary. Visit the website at unnecessarystentlawyers.com

Cardiology medical malpractice cases are on the rise (USA)

Cardiology patients who have received surgically implanted coronary artery stents on a possibly medically unnecessary basis have been contacting their local medical malpractice attorney in greater numbers than ever in the first three months of this year. Individual as well as class action medical malpractice lawsuits against individual physicians, hospitals, and health care corporations have proliferated after a 2010 audit of coronary artery stent insertions revealed that the procedures were considered to be unwarranted in at least 140 patients at one hospital alone. Medical malpractice falls under the category of personal injury law. Though an attorney who files a case against a health care professional may refer to himself as a "medical malpractice attorney", he is in fact licensed and recognized as a personal injury attorney

Texas jury awards plaintiff $482 million in Johnson and Johnson stent battle

From Reuters: "A federal jury in Texas has rendered a $482 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson, finding its widely used Cypher stent infringes on the patent of an outside researcher, the company said on Friday. Dr. Bruce Saffran filed the lawsuit, saying that his stent patent was valid and that the healthcare company infringed on it. J&J said the company disagrees with the jury's decision, and will fight it. "We will ask the judge to overturn this verdict and if unsuccessful, we plan to appeal the verdict," a J&J spokesperson said. Saffran's law firm, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, in a release, said the jury deliberated for two hours before returning its verdict. The law firm said another federal jury in the same Marshall, Texas, courthouse three years ago rendered a $431.9 million verdict against Boston Scientific Corp, finding that its Taxus stent also infringed Saffran's patent"

Pacemaker firm to pay $9.2M (USA)

In a four-year-old case with nationwide implications, Ela Medical has agreed to pay $9.2 million to settle a whistle-blower case brought by a former Miami technician who charged the company used several schemes to pay kickbacks to South Florida doctors. Tania Lee's original lawsuit against Ela, manufacturer of pacemakers and other heart devices, had named a dozen South Florida hospitals and 25 doctors, but her amended complaint was only against Ela. 'Ela is a window into something much bigger that is widespread in the healthcare industry,' Jon May, one of her attorneys, said on Monday. 'It's how the healthcare industry is set up, offering such incentives for medicines and procedures. Every place you look, every rock you turn over, you see...that as long as we pay doctors for procedures and devices rather than outcomes, there is a huge incentive for doctors to do more.' Ela, the Denver-based subsidiary of an Italian company, issued a brief statement on the settlement: 'Closure of this investigation places this legacy issue firmly behind us and clearly enhances our ability to execute on our plans for CRM [cardiac rhythm management] in the United States. Our commitment to provide patients and healthcare providers with life-saving and life-enhancing innovation, and to conduct our business in a highly ethical manner is stronger than ever.' - Miami Herald

US National health groups applaud House Committee vote for The HEART For Women Act

"National health groups commended the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee for approving crucial legislation aimed at fighting heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in women, their No. 1 killer. The American Heart Association, Society for Women's Health Research, WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. and their millions of volunteers, advocates and supporters are urging Congress to enact the Heart disease Education, Analysis and Research, and Treatment (HEART) for Women Act" - AHA