It started as a false accusation by an embittered former employee and ended a half-decade later in a San Antonio courtroom with two words – “not guilty.” Beating the 10-count felony criminal prosecution – over just one FDA-cleared medical device that made up only 0.1% of the company’s sales and never harmed a single patient— took a 121-lawyer team and a $25 million legal bill. Even a single guilty verdict would have put the 500-employee company’s continued existence in doubt and sent its CEO Howard Root to prison for years. In Cardiac Arrest, Howard tells the true story of out-of-control prosecutors leveraging vague federal regulations to manufacture criminal charges that put his company and his freedom in peril.
