The Prosecutor’s (OM) investigation into corruption in the Zwolle Isala hospital focuses on implantable electronic heart devices (ICDs) from the German company Biotronik. This is evident from the research of NRC and the German weekly The mirror.
Biotronik has a branch in Nijmegen and sells heart technology such as ICDs, pacemakers and home monitoring systems. Justice suspects that Biotronik has paid millions of bribes to medical specialists in exchange for preferential treatment. In the annual report, the Nijmegen branch writes that the prosecutor has been investigating “some payments” in the past since 2020, according to the report. NRC.
Approximately six thousand ICDs are placed in the Netherlands each year. The equipment for this costs 130 million euros. There are also costs for surgery and aftercare. Of the 28 heart centers in the Netherlands, most of the ICDs are located in the Isala hospital in Zwolle. The only question is whether Isala’s doctors put the ICDs in exchange for personal gain, he writes NRC.
As part of the investigation, the Public Prosecutor’s Office seized the homes of at least five medical specialists linked to the Isala hospital. Together they would have accepted 3.2 million euros in bribes.
Biotronik has already had to make multimillion-dollar deals for paying bribes to cardiologists. In the United States, the company has bribed medical specialists with luxury travel, large sums of money for fake trainings and lectures at conferences.
