We all want to trust that our family doctor has our best interests at heart when making decisions about treating us. Unfortunately, that trust has been abused by a growing number of doctors who accept kickbacks from manufacturers of medical devices and drugs. A recent case in West Virginia illustrates the danger to the public health when a rogue doctor puts profit over patient care.
Wright Medical Technology Inc. and EBI, Inc., a subsidiary of Biomet Inc., are among several medical device companies being investigated by the U.S. Dept. of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for potential violations of law involving using sham contracts and other kickbacks to persuade surgeons to choose their products. Wright and EBI could be facing the likelihood of paying millions of dollars in penalties and be forced to agree to future monitoring.
Don’t be concerned about Wright’s ability to pay, they had sales of $120 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
The kickbacks came to light when 100+ medical malpractice suits were filed against disgraced Dr. John Anderson King, an osteopathic surgeon formerly on the staff of Putnam General Hospital in Charleston, West Virginia. Last year, the owner of the hospital, Hospital Corporation of America paid over $100 million to settle medical malpractice lawsuits filed by former patients of King.
A physician assistant of Dr. King allegedly assisted him in deliberate, well-planned experiments on patients at Putnam using medical devices produced by Wright and EBI. For example, they allegedly made sure the patients were equally male and female and kept meticulous records on the different types of devices they implanted. Patients were never informed they were being implanted with experimental devices.
The lawsuits alleged that Allomatrix, a bone-fusion material manufactured by Wright failed to work properly and was not adequately tested. EBI manufactured Ionic Spacer spine-stimulating devices and allegedly paid Dr. King a bonus each time he surgically inserted one of the devices in a patient’s spine. EBI’s spacers have never been successfully used in animals or humans to replace diseased or damaged vertebral discs according to a previously confidential federal whistleblower complaint filed against King.
Biomet has reportedly agreed to pay the Department Of Justice $26 million to settle some of the violations of federal anti-kickback statutes. The kickbacks are frequently disguised as “consultantships” although very little if any scientific or educational activity is required of the doctors. The kickbacks generally involve cash payments or travel and lavish entertainment benefits.
Sound Orwellian? It happens more often than we would like to think, especially when doctors forget the Hippocratic oath to “do no harm” in the pursuit of making more money. Congress and state legislators must back stiffer federal and state laws prohibiting these type of greed-inducing incentives and fake consultantships the manufacturers are using to bait our doctors.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
