Hip Replacement Surgery as Treatment for Arthritis

A recent news feature form WBAL TV looks at a total hip replacement procedure as a treatment for arthritis. The article focuses on a common belief held by prospective patients that having hip pain is just a normal sign of getting older and something you with which you have to live.

untitled-1019029-mHowever, orthopedic surgeons are saying they are variety of procedures available these days, and you should not have to simply resolve yourself to living with the pain for the rest of your life. It should also be noted that many who are more active and like to run are experiencing hip pain and arthritis at a much earlier age than they were in years past, due to the increased activity.

One woman featured in the article is 80 years old and loved to go dancing. She put up with the pain for years, but eventually it got to the point where she couldn’t go dancing anymore. This concerned her, because she felt that if she stopped being active, things would only get worse. This is a realistic fear, because many studies show that a loss in mobility and independence often leads to increased depression and other serious health conditions in older patients.

At this point, she decided to see an orthopedic surgeon who told her that only way to make things better was to perform a total hip replacement surgery. She had already tried less invasive methods, such as taking painkillers, steroids, trying to lose weight and increasing her exercise routine. When nothing really worked, she knew it was time to have a total hip replacement surgery.

Fortunately for this patient, the surgery went well, and she felt significantly better after the initial recovery period was over. She is now able to go dancing again and said she is glad she decided to go through with the total hip replacement procedure.

There is no question that hip replacement surgery is the best option for millions of Americans. There is also no question that the vast majority of surgeons are skilled and can do an excellent job for patients and implant a perfectly well-designed artificial hip. The problem is that not every artificial hip joint is well designed, and the medical device manufacturers know this. Not only do they know they are producing and shipping defective devices, in some cases, they are taking great efforts to make sure doctors and patients do not know the devices are defective.

One of these defective devices is the DePuy ASR or Pinnacle hip. These devices were made by a company known as DePuy that is now wholly owned by Stryker, which is a very large medical device manufacturing firm.   This device was designed to allow patients to lead a more active lifestyle, according to advertisements from the medical device company. These ads were placed in doctors’ offices and were provided to doctors by medical device sales reps.

In reality, as Boston hip replacement injury attorneys have seen in various cases, the metal-on-metal device would break down in the patient’s body, resulting in joint failure and the release of metal shards into the patient’s tissue and blood stream. This resulted in serious pain and suffering and a form of blood poisoning known as metalosis.

Call the Boston Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers for a free and confidential appointment — (617) 777-7777.

Additional Resources:

Woman’s Doctor: Replacement surgery is ‘definitive’ hip arthritis treatment, January 18, 2016, WBAL TV, By Megan Pringle

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