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Annie Baxter
St. Paul, Minn.

Heart doctors oppose Guidant defibrillator plea agreement

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Two Minneapolis Heart Institute doctors are opposing a plea agreement involving the Guidant division of Boston Scientific.

The cardiologists were the first to flag concerns five years ago about a type of implantable defibrillator made by Guidant Corp., which was since acquired by Boston Scientific.

Drs. Robert Hauser and Barry Maron went public with concerns that some Guidant defibrillators could short circuit.

Defibrillators shock an errantly beating heart back into a normal rhythm. One of their patients, a 21 year-old, died after his defibrillator failed.

Guidant knew about the problems but took years to notify regulators and conduct a recall. In [[link:/features/2010/04/documents/doctors-objections.pdf type:pdfa letter, the doctors say they oppose an agreement under which Guidant pleads guilty to two federal misdemeanor charges and pays more than $296 million in penalties.

The doctors say the U.S. Attorney General should "prosecute the company and the individuals responsible for this egregious act."