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Companies don't like the way some local hospitals do MRI brain scans, sue
By adamg on Thu, 07/12/2012 - 6:55pm
Companies using a patent owned by the University of Washington yesterday sued every Boston research hospitals over the way they use MRI to diagnose certain brain problems.
In their lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Neurografix, Neurography Institute Medical Associates and Image-Based Surgicenter Corporation allege the hospitals and their doctors violate an MRI patent, specifically a section that describes focusing a "magnetic polarizing field" on a particular part of the brain and then using a computer to analyze what the results mean.
The companies want the hospitals to knock it off and, of course, pay lots of money for the "irreparable" harm they've allegedly done.
The suits leave Mass. General off their lists of defendants, although one suit is aimed at its parent holding company, Partners HealthCare.
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| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Copy of one of the Neurografix complaints | 0 bytes |
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Comments
You should not be able to patent a medical technique.
"We'd like to diagnose and treat your illness, but we can't, because doing so would violate the intellectual property rights of Neurografix."
Can we please get rid of patents?
They seem to have outlived their use, which was intentionally to promote innovation.
Patenting abstract methods and ideas, for scurrilous patent holding companies with no plan to use them besides for litigation, is not what they were meant for.
I read that
as "Can we please get rid of patients?" Which seems likely to happen
ACA
is the law of the land after all! My Teabag uncle seems to think we'll all be thrown into box cars for vising a doctor once 2014 hits.
(joke)