Posted by Daniela Nuñez, Consumers
Union FiDA highlight
Since
last September, Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project has been calling on the top hip
and knee manufacturers to warranty their products. A warranty would
cover revision surgery for patients if their implant is defective –for example,
if the implant breaks, fails to adhere to the patient’s body or emits metal
particles into tissue or blood. Shockingly, only one
hip and knee implant part comes with a warranty, yet more and more
patients are getting these implants installed in their bodies.
To help us understand what patients really need,
we’ve asked thousands of people with artificial hips and knees to tell us what
they expect from a good warranty. Now, we’ve started asking orthopedic surgeons who implant
these hip and knee devices what they think about our warranty idea. As experts
in their field, we think they’d give us some good input. A surgeon in Florida
shared his thoughts on warranties in a guest blog post.
Some orthopedic surgeons in Washington state had helpful
comments, with several stating an interest in the idea. And a researcher who
has analyzed hip and
knee implants retrieved from patients over the past 30 years
reached out to us with a very useful perspective on the issue.
In our newest effort to get more feedback from surgeons, our Safe Patient Project team will
head to the American Academy
of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans March
10-14, 2014. We tried to pay the registration fee for us and several
patient safety activists, but an AAOS representative told us that this is a
“private meeting and not open to those outside the medical field or official
exhibitors.” So, we will be outside
the meeting and around New Orleans ready to talk to surgeons about why
we think hip and knee
manufacturers should back their products with a warranty and identifying
supporters.
Unfortunately, many patients are left in the dark
on how long their hip or knee implant will last — even though most people are
given an estimate, there is not a solid guarantee to back that up. Patients also need a clear
process to follow if their device fails unexpectedly, something that is
routinely offered with warranties. And when a hip or knee implant fails,
insurance companies, Medicare
and patients are forced to foot the bill while the implant maker doesn’t
have to pay a dime. That should change.
Surgeons play an important role in the success of a
patient’s hip or knee replacement. We look forward to getting their feedback!
And we hope we can enlist
their support for warranties.
(If you are an orthopedic
surgeon, please email us your thoughts on a warranty at
safepatient@consumersunion.org. If you’ll be at the AAOS conference, let us
know!)
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