UC Pays Nearly $8.5 Million To Settle Conflict-Of-Interest Suits

The University of California regents have agreed to pay nearly $8.5 million to settle two lawsuits alleging a well-known UCLA spine surgeon failed to disclose his conflicts of interest with a leading device maker before using the company’s products in harmful surgeries.

The settlements were approved last week in separate Los Angeles County Superior Court cases that focused on the financial ties among the surgeon, Jeffrey Wang, M.D., UCLA and Medtronic, the world’s largest medical-device company.

The regents agreed to pay $4.2 million to Jerome Lew, a 52-year-old screenwriter in Orange County, and $4.25 million to Ralph Weiss, a 61-year-old attorney in Calabasas. The two patients alleged their surgeries led to complications, recurring pain and the need for additional operations.

In both cases, Wang implanted Medtronic’s controversial bone-growth product in an “off-label” way not specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration, according to the lawsuits.

And Lew alleged that Medtronic promoted off-label use of its products to Wang and UCLA, which generally is not allowed under federal law.

“I chose UCLA and Dr. Wang for my spine surgery based upon their sterling reputations,” Weiss said. “I was astonished and offended when I found out about the conflicts that were never disclosed to me.”

The UC system and Wang, now co-director of the University of Southern California Spine Center, denied any wrongdoing in court documents. Wang, through his attorney, declined to comment.

In a statement, the UCLA Health System said the regents agreed to settle the two cases “so that UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA could move forward with their ongoing commitment to excellence in patient care, research, education and community service.”

Medtronic denied any wrongdoing and said it did not promote off-label use of its products. The company was dropped as a defendant in the Weiss case and it agreed to a separate, confidential settlement with Lew.

The device maker said there was no conflict of interest in the Lew case. “Dr. Wang was not paid for using the Medtronic products used in the surgery and as of the time of the surgery involving Mr. Lew, he was not a consultant for Medtronic,” the company said in a statement.

UC and Medtronic had tried to keep emails and other information unearthed by the lawsuits under seal. But a Superior Court judge denied that request, saying they were public records involving a state institution.

The cases shine a light on the controversial role industry money continues to play in research and patient care at academic medical centers. Nationwide, doctors and universities have come under increasing scrutiny over the money they receive from drug and device makers. Although the rules for accepting money vary widely among institutions, Congress in recent years has required all drug and device companies to publicly disclose their payments.

The total amount companies paid to doctors and teaching hospitals in 2015, according to the new federal data, was $6.5 billion.

Wang played a role in spurring Congress to impose those rules in 2010. A 2009 U.S. Senate investigation into industry payments accepted by dozens of doctors across the country found that Wang failed to report nearly $460,000 he received from Medtronic and other companies on annual disclosure forms required at UCLA.

From 2004 to 2013, Medtronic paid Wang more than $275,000 for product royalties, consulting work and lectures, according to the Senate investigation and UCLA records.

During 2014 and 2015, while at USC, Wang received no money from Medtronic but did collect $1.4 million from other device companies, according to the federal data.

Wang, who joined UCLA in 1997 and was named executive director of its spine center in 2003, is considered one of the top specialists in his field. A frequent speaker at international medical conferences, he serves as a board member of the North American Spine Society and offers second opinions to injured players in the National Hockey League.

In the past, he has defended industry collaboration as a way to foster medical advances.

This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, which publishes California Healthline, a service of the California Health Care Foundation (www.californiahealthline.org).