ABSTRACT - Division of Guidant Corp, one of country's largest makers of medical devices, pleads guilty to 10 felonies, admitting it lied to government and hid thousands of serious health problems, including 12 deaths, caused by one of its products; case against division, Endovascular Technologies, results in $92.4 million in criminal and civil penalties, largest ever imposed against maker of medical devices for failing to report problems to government; company developed stent-grafts that could be used to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms without major surgery; problem was with device used to insert stent-graft; equipment could become lodged, potentially requiring emergency surgery to remove it; in some cases, it was broken into pieces before being removed; Guidant hid results that its product failed to work properly about one of every three times it was used; as part of plea, Endovascular Technologies agrees to cooperate in investigations against executives who might have been involved in wrongdoing; company also faces lawsuits from individuals; photos; diagram (L) A division of one of the country's largest makers of medical devices pleaded guilty yesterday to 10 felonies, admitting that it lied to the government and hid thousands of serious health problems, including 12 deaths, caused by one of its products.

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