Medtronic has said that consulting arrangements with surgeons are critical to the development of new products. Company officials also say the $800,000 payments were compensation for Dr. Timothy Kuklo’s work developing products for the company, training doctors and speaking at company events and that they weren’t connected to the study or journal article in any way.

Not connected? How was this anything but a "fee for services rendered?" Medtronic made payments amounting to $800,000 Dr. Kuklo, the former Army surgeon who is accused of falsifying data in a study using Medtronic’s Infuse bone-graft product, and forging signatures of bogus co-authors on a paper reporting favorable results advantageous to Medtronic.

Furthermore, Medtronic acknowledged that some of the consulting payments occurred during the time that Dr. Kuklo, was shopping his favorable study of Medtronic’s Infuse bone-graft product to medical journals. Dr. Kuklo delivered: the paper was published by the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. It was then redacted when the journal was alerted to the fraud.

Medtronic’s payments to surgeons who use its spine products are under investigation by the Justice Department following accusations by several former employees that the doctors were being induced to use the products — allegations the company denies.

Posted by Vera Sharav