From a revived lawsuit against a prominent commercial payer to a patent infringement case and a tainted spine product that may have gotten a patient sick, here are three spine cases that made headlines in the past month:
1. A Delaware man sued Aziyo Biologics and Medtronic alleging he was infected with tuberculosis after receiving a tainted spine allograft, which was produced and distributed by the two companies.
2. A lawsuit over Aetna Life Insurance's spine surgery coverage that was originally dismissed in 2019 will now go forward. The case relates to two patients covered by Aetna who were recommended lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery — Aetna allegedly denied both requests, saying the procedure was "experimental or investigational."
3. Mark Barry, MD, a Las Vegas-based spine surgeon-inventor filed patent infringement cases against devicemakers Alphatec and SeaSpine. The surgeon alleges that both companies sell spinal alignment products that infringe his patents.