Product Liability Lawyer Blog
Each year, more and more people are choosing to undergo total knee replacement surgery than in prior years. According to a recent report from Fox News, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons estimates that over 600,000 patients undergo the procedure each year, and, by the year 2030, they estimate the number of total knee replacement patients will be over 2 million per year.
This is a huge number of people electing to have knee replacement surgery each year. However, when we use the term knee replacement, we are actually talking about two distinct types of procedures. The first type of procedure is known a partial knee replacement. In this type of operation, if the patient’s osteoarthritis is only in a single part of the knee joint, the doctor can remove the damaged material and use a partial knee replacement implant during surgery.
However, as our Boston knee replacement injury attorneys understand, only a very small portion of patients in need of knee replacement surgery are good candidates for a partial knee replacement. The vast majority will need a total knee replacement. This involves a surgeon making an incision of around five inches in length on the patient’s knee and using a bone saw to remove the patient’s existing damaged natural knee. Once the knee is removed, the surgeon uses a precise cutting guide normally supplied by the artificial knee maker to guide where to cut. These cuts must be extremely precise, down to the millimeter, so the new artificial joint will properly fit and attach to the patient’s remaining bone material.
If the joint fits perfectly, or nearly perfect, there is much less chance that it will move once it is implanted. If it is allowed to move, that can result in it eventually rocking loose, or it can cause the joint to fail entirely.
If you have had a total knee replacement surgery less than 10 years ago, and are told the knee must be replaced with a newer model due to a defect, or you find yourself in significant pain following a knee replacement surgery after you have had enough time to heal, you should contact an experienced knee replacement injury attorney to protect your legal rights.
There are a variety of ways an artificial knee can fail. As we have seen in some of the worst cases, the artificial knee was defectively designed, and it simply comes loose inside the patient. There is no reason this should happen, and you should contact an attorney as soon as possible.
Another common problem or symptom of a defective knee is when the device begins to come loose and rock back and forth. Even though the joint does not come out entirely, it can cause the victim extreme pain. In yet another type of defective knee joint, some artificial joints were made with new experimental material and even metal. When the joint rubs together, some of this material is shaved off the artificial joint and becomes imbedded in a patient’s tissue or bloodstream, possibly contributing to serious illness.
Call the Boston Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.
Additional Resources:
Knee replacement options, July 17, 2015, My Fox 8
More Blog Entries:
Knee Reconstruction Market to Exceed $5 Billion by 2020, June 17, 2014, Boston Defective Knee Replacement Injury Lawyer Blog