US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business

20 Apr 2011

NMT Medical, the US company which pursued cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst in the London libel courts for almost four years, has announced that it is ceasing operations and selling off its assets.

In a statement released today, the company announced that “despite the company’s efforts to obtain additional financing and identify potential strategic transactions, it has failed to raise additional funds or enter into such strategic transaction and, therefore, it has entered into an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors, effective immediately, in accordance with Massachusetts law”.

Dr Wilmshurst has been fighting since 2007 to defend his comments about a clinical trial of a heart device manufactured by NMT Medical. Losing the case could have meant he lost his house.

This news of NMT’s closure comes just weeks after Wilmshurst discovered he was facing a fourth libel suit over an interview he gave to BBC Radio 4 Today Programme piece on the chilling effects of England’s libel laws on medical science.

Wilmshurt told Index on Censorship: “It is good news that it seems that my libel case may now be over. However it has cost me all my free time for the last three and a half years. It has also cost hundreds of thousands of my own money and about £200,000 on the conditional fee agreement with my lawyers, Mark Lewis and Alastair Wilson QC. Now that NMT have gone into liquidation, we are uncertain how much of the money we will get back. There will be no compensation for the enormous amount of time my family and I have wasted in fighting the case.”

Solicitor Mark Lewis commented: “It looks like the nightmare is nearly over. After 4 years NMT looks to have gone out of business. Poor Dr Wilmshurst. The continual deployment of the libel laws to stop scientific discussion seems to be over. Peter Wilmshurst and his family enter the normal world blinking from the bright light of a case that is over.”

Talk about this story

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • LinkedIn
  • Blogger
  • StumbleUpon
  • Email
  • RSS

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

«  •  »

  1. Midweek media law mop up: | media law & ethics

    April 21, 2011 at 09:40

    [...] Index on Censorship>> US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business [...]

  2. Iain

    April 21, 2011 at 11:49

    Dicks!

  3. Law and Media Round Up – 25 April 2011 « Inforrm's Blog

    April 25, 2011 at 12:25

    [...] the notorious case brought by US company, NMT Medical, against cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst.  The Index on Censorship Blog reports that NMT “has announced that it is ceasing operations and selling off its [...]

  4. Business libel

    May 24, 2011 at 02:42

    [...] US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business … US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business. 20 Apr 2011. NMT Medical, the US company which pursued … [...]

  5. Media Law Review of the Year 2011: Defamation, Contempt, Privacy and a Public Inquiry – Jude Townend « Inforrm's Blog

    December 30, 2011 at 00:55

    [...] Medical’s case against cardiologist Dr Peter Wilmshurst came to an end when NMT announced that it was ceasing operations and selling off its [...]

5 Responses to “US company suing cardiologist for libel goes out of business”