The Law Offices of Robert Vaage Recovers $8.5 Million for Clients Harmed by the Fraudulent Concealment of UCLA Surgeon's Financial Ties to Industry
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The plaintiffs in two separate cases, Jerome Lew v. Jeffrey C. Wang, M.D., Regents of the University of California, and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive (Los Angeles Superior Court, Central District, Case No. SC 120518) and Ralph Weiss; Deborah Weiss v. Jeffrey C. Wang, M.D., Mark Mikhael, M.D., The Regents of the University of California, and DOES 1 through 100, inclusive (Los Angeles Superior Court, Central District, Case No. SC 113977), claimed that they were injured by former UCLA spine surgeon, Jeffrey Wang, M.D., who failed to inform them of his extensive financial and research ties to the manufacturers of the medical devices he implanted in them.
According to the lawsuits, Mr. Jerome Lew, 52, and Mr. Ralph Weiss, 61, both suffered injuries due to the fraud perpetrated by Dr. Wang and The Regents of the University of California/UCLA. The Regents settled with Mr. Lew for $4.2 million and with Mr. and Mrs. Weiss for $4.25 million. The payouts confirm a troubling trend where the medical device industry uses financial and research incentives to influence the patient treatment decisions by physicians. "In both cases, the nature and extent of the surgeries appeared to be influenced by Dr. Wang's research and financial interests," explained Attorney Robert Vaage, who represented the plaintiffs. "The surgeries were far more extensive than their underlying conditions required. Even the ways the spinal fusion devices were used in these surgeries were contraindicated by their labeling."
Attorney Vaage made clear that The Regents/UCLA bore some responsibility for his clients' injuries. He told the Los Angeles Times that UCLA was aware, well before the surgeries took place, of Dr. Wang's relationships with Medtronic and other device manufacturers, but allowed him to continue to conceal those relationships from patients. "Dr. Wang was bringing a lot of business into the university from the number of procedures to the amount of clinical studies he was doing," Vaage said.
Vaage is emphatic that patients have a right to know if their physician receives compensation from a medical device company or pharmaceutical company. "It's not up to the physician to decide whether he/she has a conflict of interest; that decision should be left up to the patient."
The Law Offices of Robert Vaage is a premier Southern California injury law firm based in San Diego. Attorney Vaage and his team have not only recovered millions of dollars for their clients, but have set an impressive standard of knowledge, insight, and advocacy in the personal injury, product liability, and medical malpractice arenas. For more information about the firm, please visit www.vaagelaw.com.
SOURCE Law Offices of Robert Vaage
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