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Medical device maker paid UW surgeon $19 million

Thomas Zdeblick, an orthopedic surgeon at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, raised eyebrows three years ago when it was learned that he had been receiving $400,000 yearly from the medical device company Medtronic.

But a document obtained Friday indicates the actual yearly payments averaged about 10 times that figure.

Zdeblick, a professor and chairman of the department of orthopedics at UW, received more than $19â??million in payments from Medtronic from 2003 through 2007, according to a letter that Sen. Charles Grassley R-Iowa sent Monday to UW System President Kevin Reilly.