DePuy Lone Holdout Against Ortho Settlement, Report States

If these are not revealed to patients, which apparently they weren't, they violate antikickback statutes governing those who participate in Medicare. Money from a settlement would go to Medicare, not patients.Some of the incidents apparently involved high-paying consulting jobs in return for little or no actual work. Those are despicable and rightfully banned by AdvaMed's Code of Ethics. But some may have been legitimate arrangements that should have been disclosed but weren't. It is the nondisclosure, rather than the arrangements themselves, that are bothersome in these cases. As we have argued before, doctor input is a necessity in medical device development. If a product is designed in a way that is difficult for a doctor to use, it won't work right and it won't sell.The article itself even states that "There is no allegation that the practice jeopardized patients or subjected them to substandard products or treatment." So why is the government even bothering with the minor cases?