We estimate Boston Scientific Corp. incurred about $750 million of product liability-related legal expenses in 2015 (aside from patent-related litigation) driven by rising reserves primarily relating to pelvic mesh litigation. This exceeded our 2015 estimate of $250 million and increases the company's unfunded legal reserve to $1.94 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015. Given that we view reported legal reserves as debt and burden EBITDA with the product liability-related litigation charges, adjusted debt leverage was 7.4x for 2015. We expect debt leverage to improve to 4.2x for 2016. We are affirming our 'BBB-' corporate credit rating and issue-level ratings. Our outlook remains negative. The rating is supported by the company's strong free cash flow generation, the company's stated commitment to
