The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street: May 14

Boston Blackout

Be serious, Boston Scientific(BSX). Do you really think you can hide your stupidity from us?

The medical device maker, which has been a frequent visitor to our esteemed Dumbest list, barred media from its shareholders meeting this Wednesday. The company did not offer a reason for closing its doors to the press. Previous meetings have been open to everybody, including ink-stained wretches such as ourselves.

What a joke! We already knew about the company's $1.6 billion first-quarter loss. How on earth could they top that? Announce another defibrillator recall maybe? Or how about pay Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) another $1.7 billion over a patent dispute?

And speaking of multimillion dollar misfires, the annual meeting in Boston was the first since J. Raymond Elliott took over last July as president and chief executive. The company paid Elliott a cardiac arresting $33.5 million in total compensation in 2009, according to a regulatory filing, the largest payout to any business executive in the region last year.

If all it takes to make Elliott's heart stop is a few tough questions from a bunch of journalists, then he should be using heart devices -- not selling them.

Dumb-o-meter score: 90 -- Boston's dumb decisions are not-so-Scientific.