Medtronic to Pay $268 Million, End Heart-Wires Suits
This article is for subscribers only.
Medtronic Inc. the world’s biggest maker of heart devices, agreed to pay $268 million to settle lawsuits over claims that fractured wires in a line of its cardiac defibrillators caused at least 13 deaths.
Medtronic, said it’s resolving claims that wires connecting implantable Sprint Fidelis defibrillators to patients’ hearts were defective. The Minneapolis-based company halted sales of the so-called defibrillator leads in October 2007 after they were linked to users’ deaths.