HCA, the largest for profit hospital operation in the country, with over 163 hospitals, is being investigated by The Department of Justice for possible fraud. The focus of the investigation includes decisions made by physicians concerning interventional cardiology procedures including the implantation of stents to open clogged arteries. The issue is whether these procedures...

The McKesson Corporation will pay $151 million to resolve allegations that it violated the Federal FGalse Claims Act for inflating pricing data for a large number of prescription drugs causung the states Medicaid program to over-pay for the medications.The drug pricing data at issue in this settlement concerns the "Average Wholesale Price" (AWP) benchmark...

Johnson & johnson, the lagrest health-care products manufacturer, continued to sell a vaginal mesh implant many months after The Food and Drug Administration told the company to halt their sales. In an August 24, 2007 letter the FDA cited the potential high rusk for organ perforation when surgeons insert the mesh vaginally to support...

Two former employees of the pharmaceutical giant Merck allege that the company committed a multi-year fraud by selling a mumps vaccine that it knew would not only fail to protect children, but which raise serious health risks as well. Virologist Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski say they observed the fraud when a supervisor changed...

Johnson & Johnson is close to reaching a settlement with the United States Justice Department relating to its promotion of the anti psychotic drug Risperdal for unapproved uses and could pay as much as $1.5 to $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports. In 2009, Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 Billion to settle...

A Tylenol lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, alleging that a woman suffered liver failure from taking Tylenol is now advancing in Federal Court in Florida. Charlotte Lee Thompson was hospitalized in an emergency basis at Shands Jacksonville Hospital in February 2008 as a result of severe liver damage and remained there with liver failure...

A new study, presented this week at the meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, indicates that side effects of Fosamax are associated with a higher rate of esophageal cancer. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago examined adverse event reports submitted to the FDA and found 128 cases of biphosphonate associated...

The lap-band weight loss device linked to a high rate of complications and a number of deaths is now the subject of a government investigation and Allergan has received a subpoena issued by the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General. The Lap-Band, or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, is a band placed around...