Medical devices made a lot of headlines in 2012, and the word "layoffs" was in many of them.

The medical device industry had a lot of big stories during the last year, including tales of recalls, lawsuits and CEO swapping, but the single factor that drove more big headlines than any other was news of layoffs.
Some of the biggest companies in the industry announced significant cuts in 2012, amounting to about 7,000 reported layoffs, by some estimates.
Whether a result of restructuring, post-acquisition workforce cuts or attempts to cut costs ahead of the medical device tax, layoffs were a constant reminder that the industry was amid upheaval.
Check out MassDevice.com's collection of some of the biggest of the big layoff stories of 2012:
Abbott announced that it would cut 700 jobs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including about 200 in Lake County, Ill., and about 300 in Temecula, Calif.
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