Senate Finds U Minnesota Surgeon Took $1.2 Million From Medtronic

Star Tribune.com has:

Consulting Flap Drives U Surgeon From Board

"Polly, the head of the U's spine surgery department, has been a target in a congressional investigation exploring the financial relationships between doctors and medical device makers. Initiated by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the probe found Polly was paid $1.2 million between 2003 and 2007 by the Fridley-based medical technology company for consulting, expenses and honoraria.

Such relationships are common -- and legal -- in the $140 billion medical technology industry. Doctors offer medical device makers advice on how to improve products; sometimes they are paid royalties for inventions commercialized by device manufacturers.

Grassley's investigation revealed that by 2007 Medtronic paid Polly $4,750 a day, or $594 an hour, with an annual cap of $400,000, and that Polly gave congressional testimony on spine surgery research without disclosing his relationship with Medtronic."

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For analysis of this phenomena - IE: What Medical Ethics Really Means Today - see University Diaries:

Dr Polly And Fair Market Value

"Well, we know that he billed Medtronic at these rates for a Medtronic person simply entering his office. He billed them when he called them to chat, billed them when he did this, when he did that… Again, it’s very hard to quantify these things. Does a whore charge for taking off her bra and making small talk? Or is she just charging for the act itself?"