Intuitive pulls Da Vinci ads featuring Univ. of Illinois surgeons

Intuitive Surgical last week agreed to pull ads for its controversial Da Vinci robots that feature University of Illinois Health & Hospital System physicians after university officials complained. Some of the physicians featured in the ads were paid consultants for Intuitive, although they did not get paid for appearing in the ad.

“We asked Intuitive to suspend the ad,” Thomas Hardy, executive director of university relations, wrote the “Not Running a Hospital Blog,” whose author Paul Levy had written several blistering blog posts attacking the university for allowing its faculty to tout a private company's product. The ad originally ran in the New York Times. “Our request was based on a business decision; we were concerned that the ad was not benefiting UI Health.”

The university also will review its policies governing faculty appearances in advertising, although officials apparently aren't happy about the situation. Hardy told the investigative news site ProPublica, which reported the affair Friday, that reporters should pay attention to Levy's reputation, too. “I believe if you're attributing claims and accusations to the blogster, your readers deserve to know his reported background so they can make an informed decision about his credibility,” he wrote.

Levy voluntarily left his post as CEO of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in January 2011 after the hospital's board of directors fined him $50,000 for “lapses in judgment in a personal relationship with a female employee.” He was widely credited with financially rehabilitating the hospital system during his nine years at the helm.

Follow Merrill Goozner on Twitter: @MHgoozner