The New York Times reports that Guidant officials prepared a letter to doctors warning of serious quality control issues with some of its implanted devices long before the company admitted problems, but never sent it. Earlier this week, a Texas court made public a number of company documents, including the letter, which was dated January 2005. The development appears to suggest that liability for Guidant--and new owner Boston Scientific--over the recall of the Contak defibrillator and other models may be higher than had been anticipated.

- see this New York Times article [1]