Suit alleges that Medtronic tried to entice doctors to use its devices

Documents filed in a federal whistleblower lawsuit against some of the nation's top spine surgeons hint at a lucrative financial relationship between Medtronic Inc. and several doctors at Twin Cities Spine Center, a Minneapolis practice. The whistleblower suit alleges that Medtronic offered consulting and royalty agreements to induce doctors to use its innovative bone-graft product, Infuse, in ways not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Seven doctors at Twin Cities Spine are named in the suit.