Disability Law

On the front of its Marketplace section, the Wall Street Journal reports that, according to documents "provided by Medtronic to Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has been scrutinizing the relationship between academics and industry," a University of Minnesota spine surgeon, David Polly, failed to disclose that he "was paid $1.14 million" by the devicemaker "for consulting services from 2004 to 2007." Polly appeared before "a Senate committee" in May 2006 to testify for funding for "research into the severe arm, leg and spine injuries suffered by soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere." Polly and his colleagues later "received a $466,644 Department of Defense grant for a two-year study beginning in February 2007 to evaluate" Medtronic's Infuse "bone growth product" in "cases where an injury is also infected." The documents show that "in total, Dr. Polly billed Medtronic for more than $50,000 in lobbying-related costs." For its part, "Medtronic said it was not aware that Dr. Polly hadn't disclosed his ties to the company when testifying."

From the American Association for Justice news release.