BEHIND THE NEWS: Guidant defibrillator flap spawns disclosure debate
Early this year, when Minnesotabased Medtronic Inc. was deciding how to respond to a battery defect in its defibrillators, it contacted prominent Indianapolis cardiologist Douglas Zipes. “You absolutely go public with this,” Zipes, a longtime consultant for the Minnesota company, recalled saying. “You take your hit, you let the physicians know what is happening, and let them decide what to do with their individual patients.” Remaining silent, he said, carried worse risks, even though reported failures were rare. “The last…