Kickback allegations, False Claims Act settlements and device safety issues have shaped orthopedic and spine litigation over the past year, hitting device makers, distributors, hospitals and physician practices alike.
Here are five cases to know:
- Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific, Medtronic and Nevro are named in lawsuits filed by patients across the U.S. alleging spinal cord stimulator devices caused injuries including electric shocks, worsening pain, neurological injury and repeated corrective surgeries. The suits allege manufacturers made hundreds of modifications to the devices’ software, firmware, battery systems and stimulation settings through the FDA’s premarket approval supplement process without new clinical trials or full regulatory review. In June, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated Boston Scientific’s spinal cord stimulator cases into a single MDL in the Central District of California, while declining to create an industrywide MDL given differences in devices and regulatory histories among Abbott, Medtronic and Nevro.
- SpineFrontier’s former CFO, Aditya Humad, was sentenced Aug. 6 to four months in prison and a $9,500 fine after pleading guilty in May to conspiring to pay more than $540,000 in bribes to surgeons to use the spinal implant company’s products.
- Allstate sued Florida Orthopedics and Neurosurgery, which operates as University Orthopedic Care, alleging the Fort Meyers, Fla.-based, 13-location practice used a built-in kickback structure to multiply facility fees, according to a complaint filed May 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The suit names practice owner Bradford Estra and Angel Rigueras, MD.
- Southwest Orthopedic and Spine Hospital, doing business as Phoenix-based Oasis Hospital, along with Dallas-based United Surgical Partners International and Dignity/USP Phoenix Surgery Centers, agreed to pay $5.6 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations tied to improper financial relationships with a referring physician group, according to a Feb. 24 Justice Department news release. The government alleged that from 2011 through 2018, Oasis made improper interest payments on convertible bonds issued to the referring physician group.
- Aesculap Implant Systems agreed to pay $38.5 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations tied to its Vega-brand knee implants, which the Justice Department alleged the company knew would fail at an unacceptable rate, according to a Nov. 17, 2025, news release. The settlement also resolved allegations that Aesculap made unlawful payments to a Georgia orthopedic surgeon to induce him to use the implants, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
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