We begin with the story of a whistleblower who says American tax dollars were squandered at a Veterans Affairs medical center in a startling bribery scheme. According to legal claims, for almost a decade a company paid kickbacks to a VA surgical team to order massive numbers of unneeded medical devices, and sometimes use them unnecessarily on vets. Those accused vehemently deny the accusations, and they’re now the subject of a lawsuit and investigations.
Even worse, Schroeder alleges, VA doctors were inserting excessive numbers of the Medtronic devices in veterans when not medically necessary.
In Ament's deposition, an attorney reads a partial list of meals Medtronic bought the VA staff.
Filet mignon, two orders for $76. And it goes on, adding lobster tail, two of those for a total of $84. Ribeye for $42, halibut for $40, filet mignon for $76. In another deposition, Dole VA's cath lab manager, Terry Brinkley, was questioned about food Medtronic bought for her and others on the team after Medtronic scored a big sale.
Attorney: We pulled some expense reports again, and roughly a week later, on August 1, there was a statement for $877.52 that Medtronic employees had purchased for the cath lab staff, including you at the Newport Grill.
You understand how a taxpayer may look at that and be concerned that the purchases of these meals might affect your decisions on whether or not to buy these devices from Medtronic? Brinkley: Yes.
Medtronic declined our interview request but told Full Measure the "Allegations in this case are false, and Medtronic will continue to defend the litigation as it moves ahead." The company also says Schroeder has admitted "He has no firsthand knowledge about any problematic procedure involving Medtronic devices," that patients were properly referred for the surgeries, and "The physicians used FDA-approved devices from a variety of manufacturers" without receiving additional compensation for the procedures or devices.
Sharyl: A VA investigation reported that a large spike in costs at the Dole VA were related to buying Medtronic devices.
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