U.S. defibrillator probe reduced questionable implantation rate

(Reuters Health) - A U.S. government investigation of allegations that doctors were implanting heart-shocking defibrillators into patients who didn't meet federal guidelines led to a dramatic reduction in the number of implants and may have saved many patients from unnecessary surgery, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.The 2010 Department of Justice probe involved Medicare recipients, but the new research also documents a comparable drop in defibrillator usage