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

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).