It was a politically charged week for the medical device industry. The Republican-dominated House Ways & Means Committee voted in favor of repealing the 2.3% medical device excise tax on the grounds that it would harm medtech jobs and businesses. However, the repeal bill will likely face wider opposition down the road when it reaches the Democrat-controlled Senate. And on the heels of the Senate's smooth passage of MDUFA last week, the House also gave the user fee bill the thumbs up. Read about these and more medtech stories from the past week in our weekly roundup below.

• U.S. House Panel Backs Medical Device Repeal (Reuters)
• House Passes Bipartisan FDA User Fee Bill (Qmed)
• Medical Device Tax is Questioned (Politico)
• Will Doctors Become Obsolete? (MD+DI)
• When Code Can Kill or Cure (The Economist)
• Prescription for Change: Medical Devices Increasingly Replace Drugs (MPMN)
• Patients Crusade for Access to their Medical Device Data (NPR)
• OrthoTec Returns to Warsaw Next Week (OrthoTec)
• Medical and Industrial Displays Get iPad-Inspired Makeover (medtechinsider)