Pugsley Wood LLP Announces $4.2 Million False Claims Act Settlement With Philips Healthcare

BOSTON, Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pugsley Wood LLP announces a $4.2 million settlement of a False Claims Act lawsuit against Philip North America LLC d/b/a Philips Healthcare, a subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips N.V. Relators had alleged that Philips Healthcare made false claims to the U.S. government related to the airworthiness of the IntelliVue MP2 Mobile Patient Monitor ("MP2"), a portable medical monitoring device used in military and other government aircraft.

According to a statement by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollins's office, "Philips admits that, after receiving initial airworthiness and safe-to-fly certifications for the MP2 from the U.S. Army in 2008 and the U.S. Air Force in 2011, Philips made modifications to the MP2 but did not adequately notify the relevant military testing facilities to determine whether the device modifications required retesting for certification."

"It is never easy to blow the whistle on wrongdoing, as it can have such an immediate and devastatingly negative impact on a whistleblower's life and career," stated Pugsley Wood partner Bryan A. Wood. "Our clients, owners of a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business, willingly took that risk because the safety of their clients – U.S. military and government personnel – outweighed concerns for their own personal finances. Their bravery is to be commended."

Safe-To-Fly and Airworthiness certification ensures that a product and its component parts: (1) will work in the air; (2) will not hinder the operation or navigation of the aircraft; and (3) will not allow for hostile detection of the aircraft or the product. Press reports quoted a Philips spokesman acknowledging that the company "did not adequately notify the relevant military certifying facilities to determine whether the device modifications would or would not require retesting to maintain military airworthiness and safe-to-fly certifications."

"Given the high-risk, possibly life-threatening, situations in which the Government uses aeromedical equipment, certification for product airworthiness is paramount," added Pugsley Wood attorney Lindsey Silver. "We applaud the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's Office for dedicating resources to this important matter and the U.S. Department of Justice for ultimately holding Philips Healthcare to account."

The United States Department of Justice made the settlement public on September 1, 2022. Pugsley Wood LLP represented the whistleblowers along with co-counsel George Price at Casner & Edwards, LLP.

Pugsley Wood LLP is among the premier whistleblower law firms in the United States. Wood and Pugsley began collaborating on whistleblower cases in early 2015. In 2021 they decided to leave their respective law firms of 20+ years to better serve their clients by combining their knowledge and resources in a highly specialized law firm dedicated solely to representing whistleblowers. To date, they have obtained more than $75 million whistleblower awards for their clients under SEC, CFTC, DOJ, FIRREA/FIAFEA, and other whistleblower programs.  

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SOURCE Pugsley Wood LLP