If your doctor has diagnosed you with a faulty hip, and hip replacement surgery is in your imminent future, you’ve probably got a lot of questions and worries swirling around in your head. With all the recent news concerning Hip Replacement Recalls, one of those worries is probably about whether your hip replacement will perform as it ought to, and last as long as it is supposed to.
You have every reason to wonder, and every right to bring your concerns to your doctor. We’ve assembled below what we believe are the top ten that your doctor needs to answer before you rush headlong into surgery. We hope that this list will help you obtain the answers and reassurances that you need before you receive your brand new hip.
1. What are the risks associated with artificial hip replacement?
As hip replacement is a complicated procedure, it is not without risks and complications. In fact, you are opening up yourself to a host of possibilities, such as infection, constant pain, nerve damage, and in the extreme case, even death.
For example, one of the most common complications in artificial hip replacement is dislocation. This is so because the kind of surgery required in hip replacement is such that much surrounding tissue is damaged. In certain cases, bone is intentionally reshaped to accommodate the implantable device. Risk increases the more tissue and bone is injured, all for the sake of ensuring that the device fits the body’s natural structures. Ironically, such injury leaves the new implanted device vulnerable to getting dislocated.
Other risks include potential bone loss at the site of the implant, nerve problems, chronic pain, or a resulting inequality of leg length. Moreover, while the risk of dying from hip replacement complications is less than one percent, feel free to discuss this with your doctor, if only to address your concerns.
2. Would additional surgeries be necessary?
It depends on the results of your medical evaluation, which in turn weighs several factors that may include your age, current health condition, and other identifiable risks. For example, being overweight is a significant risk factor. Discussion regarding additional surgeries is made only if the implanted device ultimately fails or causes the classic tell-tale symptoms of being defective. But this should not stop you from demanding frank information about your surgery, and your doctor should be the best one to provide you with such information.
3. What is the actual expertise of your surgeon?
There are many things you should ask the doctor who may perform the actual surgery to implant the hip replacement, especially if you’re already talking shop and considering specific device models. Ask if your doctor has an extensive experience with such device, or if their experience is limited to the products of a specific manufacturer.
4. Is there a “best age” or “best time” for hip replacement surgery?
There is really no “standard” or set “best age” for hip replacement surgery, as any orthopedic surgeon will tell you that they carefully assess every individual patient’s lifestyle, physical make-up and overall health condition regarding the operation. Generally, however, this type of surgery is something like a “last resort” medical procedure—you choose hip replacement surgery when all the other options (such as physical therapy) are no longer feasible. That is why the most common age range of patients undergoing hip replacement surgery is 50 years old and above.
5. What are the different types of surgeries for hip replacement, and how do you know which is best for me?
The current “buzz words” in medical circles are “minimally invasive.” This means the less tissue or bone is cut up or injured in performing the major surgery, the better it is for the patient’s overall health and rate of healing. Recently developed less invasive procedures are meant to entail minimal risk and keep the patient’s stay in the hospital as brief as possible. Moreover, there is also the posterior, lateral, antero-lateral, and anterior surgical approaches to hip replacement, so named according to where the major incision will be made. However, as there is no final word on the overall definitive benefit of minimally invasive surgical approaches to hip replacement vis-a-vis the standard approaches, you should thoroughly discuss with your doctor the applicability of other existing approaches to your case.
6. What is metal poisoning?
Metal poisoning, or metal toxicity, is a medical condition in which an excessive amount of a particular metal exists in a person’s blood stream. In case of artificial hip replacement, especially the new metal-on-metal devices, there have been reports of increased levels of cobalt and chromium in the implant recipient’s system. This is so because artificial ball-and-joint structures are most often made of the said two metals. When metal-on-metal hip replacements grind against each other (as the person moves), the friction releases certain amounts of metal particles into the surrounding tissue that eventually reach the bloodstream. The metal should normally be excreted in the urine, but there have been cases of cobalt poisoning with all-metal hip replacements, pointing at the hip implant device as the culprit.
7. What is behind the recent spate of mass hip replacement recalls?
Currently, there is a mass recall of hip implant devices, particularly those made by DePuy Orthopaedics, Stryker and Zimmer. Although various products are involved in the recall, the single underlying reason is device failure: each of the devices in question failed to deliver on its promise of benefit, comfort, and durability, leaving thousands of people suffering financially and physically.
8. Can your surgeon be held liable if your hip replacement fails or turns out to be defective?
Based on precedents, especially concerning the current mass recall of hip replacements, orthopedic surgeons are not responsible for a failed implant. As most often is the case, the hip implant device is the one that failed, due to any of a number of identifiable factors. Doctors and orthopedic surgeons can also be considered “victims” here, as they might have been thoroughly misled by the implant manufacturer’s agents by citing features, advancements and benefits that the device failed to deliver.
9. How important is it to quickly act if you suspect your hip replacement is defective?
Very, very important. There is such a thing as the “statute of limitations.” It simply means there is an actual “expiration date” for the filing of a law suit for compensation. If you wait too long, even hiring the most expensive lawyer may not do you good. Aside from legal things, of course, you should not endure the symptoms of a defective hip replacement—why would you live a day more clouded in pain and wondering about what might be happening with your implanted device. Acting quickly by contacting a suitable lawyer should help you take the right direction.
10. If in case you end up having to sue your hip implant manufacturer, what usually are included in the damage claims?
Based on the current civil suits filed against certain hip replacement manufacturers, your damage claims may include loss of earning capacity (based on your wage rate when the hip implant procedure was performed), the negative effect of the faulty hip implant on your mental and physical health (this would include the actual pain and suffering the patient endured), any disfigurement arising from the implant device, and most importantly, the medical expenses incurred (both past and future).
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