Last month we reported here on the jail sentences handed out to two former Synthes executives for their parts in the illegal promotion and clinical testing of bone cements in back surgeries which resulted in patient deaths.
Since then John Walsh, clinical and regulatory affairs director has also been sentenced to five months and now it transpires that Richard Bohner, a fourth ex exec and ex VP has been sentenced to 8 months in prison for his role in the illegal human trials of what was an experimental bone cement.
According to a report on US medtech news site Massdevice; “Bohner’s sentencing was delayed after his lawyer collapsed during proceedings late last month. While attorney Brent Gurney was making a case for a probation-only decision, he collapsed and hit his head on a nearby table. Gurney was bleeding from the back of the head and was wheeled out of the courtroom by paramedics.”
In a salutory note for other medtech executives, these sentences mark the first handed down under the 1975 Park Doctrine, whereby executives may be held accountable as “responsible corporate officers” whether they intended to break the law or not.
Source: Massdevice, medlatest staff
published: December 14, 2011 in: Johnson & Johnson, News, Spine, USA