Medtronic agrees to settle lawsuits
From Times Wire Services
Heart device maker Medtronic Inc. has agreed to pay more than $75 million to settle lawsuits claiming it hid defects in its defibrillators, people with direct knowledge of the accord said.
The settlement will resolve about 2,000 claims over battery defects in Medtronic’s implantable defibrillators, which automatically send electric jolts to correct heart rhythms that are potentially fatal.
Battery failures and other glitches in the devices prompted voluntary recalls by Medtronic and rivals Guidant Corp. and St. Jude Medical Inc. starting in 2005, shrinking global sales of defibrillators 6% last year.
