Judge orders Guidant to pay $296 million fine for withholding information about faulty heart devices

Jan 14 2011

This Boston Scientific Corp. subsidiary faces this fine as well as three years of probation as part of a case that began in 2005.

The Associated Press/Los Angeles Times: Judge In Guidant Heart Device Case Says Company Must Pay Over $296M, Serve 3 Years' Probation
Boston Scientific Corp.'s Guidant unit was ordered Wednesday to pay $296 million and serve three years of probation for not telling regulators about safety changes it made to some implantable heart devices, a failure prosecutors say put patients at risk. Guidant LLC pleaded guilty in April to two misdemeanor counts, but U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank initially rejected the $296 million deal, saying that among other things it didn't put the company on probation (Forliti, 1/12).

Modern Healthcare: Guidant Hit With Nearly $300 Million In Penalties, Monitoring
Boston Scientific Corp.'s defibrillator subsidiary Guidant received a punishment of three years probation on Wednesday in addition to the $296 million in criminal fines and forfeitures levied against the company for withholding information about faulty heart devices (Carlson, 1/12).

Pioneer Press: Guidant Will Pay Fine Of $296M
A Boston Scientific subsidiary will pay $296 million and serve three years' probation as part of a criminal sentence imposed Wednesday by a federal judge in St. Paul. The sentencing closes a painful chapter ... [Dr. Robert Hauser of the Minneapolis Heart Institute] and a physician colleague went public in 2005 with accusations that Guidant had withheld information from patients and doctors about an emerging safety problem with heart devices (Snowbeck, 1/12).