Bad hips get worse
What happens if docs replace your bad hip with a worse hip? Bad news. Recently some replacement hip sockets, called Durom cups, were identified as defective. A prominent American orthopedist and paid consultant for Zimmer reported the incidence of surgeries that needed to be redone involving these devices.
In the process of disclosure, other docs came forward who had noticed the same thing. They found that after the hip replacements, patients were reporting more pain than ever. X-rays showed that the socket was separating from bone rather than fusing with it. You can just imagine the pain—or maybe you've experienced it for yourself.
The original doctor-consultant urged Zimmer to stop selling the device, but the company reacted the way these medical companies d They placed the fault squarely with the implantation techniques of the doctors.
And that response evidently rang a bell with this doc. Some years ago, he had gotten a similar response from another company, which was later found to have put out contaminated hip implants that had been fouled by oil in the manufacturing process.
Just another tale, you say, of corporations dragging their feet to keep sales going while patients suffer? This one has a twist because it smacks up against a touchy piece of national policy.
The problems with these hip parts first surfaced in Sweden and Australia, countries that keep national databases on artificial joints tracking what parts are used, when, by what doctor and with what results. These thorough databases can break down statistics and show whether one company's products have a disproportionate failure rate. (Britain and Norway are also ahead of the curve, having such databases.)
In the United States the FDA is supposed to monitor artificial joints, but not surprisingly very little has been done in registering data. Part of the problem is that the U.S. system is bloated with so many surgeries and product manufacturers, making it harder to keep track of.
Most hip surgeries are performed on patients over age 60. Hip replacements can involve a lot of manufactured hardware.
The lack of a registry for artificial joints means that manufactured parts taken out of use by doctors in other countries could continue to be used on citizens of the United States. It's shameful to think that we're sliding into the ranks of a third-world country in terms of our health care and the shoddy products we're willing to accept as legitimate.
If you've had hip replacement surgery and something hasn't felt right, leaving your doctor to throw up his hands—maybe by now he has heard that he may have unwittingly rebuilt his patient's hips with defective material.
