Medtronic plans image campaign

Have medical devices become like the oil industry or the payday lenders?

Do they need an image campaign to stay afloat against the incoming political fire?

One might think so from reading this from Medtronic, the Minneapolis-based company best known for its pacemakers.

They want to recruit 25 Global Heroes, runners who have benefitted from medical devices.

The idea is to give these 25 free entries to their October marathon, plus travel, plus praise, plus $1,000 for their favorite patient organization.

It's PR and marketing. As such it's brilliant.

The question occurs, though -- is it necessary? How bad is the reputation of our medical device makers? As bad as that of drug companies and insurance firms?