Product Liability Lawyer Blog

May 26, 2015

Jockey Takes 2nd in Kentucky Derby with Artificial Knee

Those who work as professional horse jockey in the world of thoroughbred racing say it takes a lot of skill, hard work and dedication. There are also many health risks involved, which go far beyond injuries from falling off a horse during a race.

Many of the jockeys are forced to restrict their diets, so they do not weigh more than the extremely low (and dangerous) weight limits. This phenomenon was covered in an HBO documentary titled, “Jockey.” The competition to ride the top horses in the world means there is little room for any physical issues with riders, and even a minor injury normally means the end of a jockey’s career.

Gary Stevens was at one time one of the best riders in the sport. However, once his knee damage became too severe, he was forced to retire. Fortunately, he was able to undergo a total knee replacement and was able to get back out on the track and actually finished second in the Kentucky Derby riding Firing Line. According to a recent article from The Courier Journal, riding in the Kentucky Derby with a total knee replacement was practically unimaginable prior to Stevens’ latest race.
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May 21, 2015

Foreign Victims Now Suing Transvaginal Mesh Implant Maker

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Transvaginal mesh implants were designed to treat painful and uncomfortable conditions in women, such as pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence. Essentially, if a woman suffered from an inability to hold back the flow of urine or pain in the vaginal walls, doctors would surgically implant one of these mesh implants to correct the problems.

Medical device companies promised women if they had this simple procedure, they would no longer have to live with painful and embarrassing conditions and would get to live a normal pain-free life. While this sounds good, the devices lead to serious problems due to design defects.

Some women suffered an erosion of the vaginal wall, causing extreme pain and suffering, and making sexual intercourse excruciating. Other victims experienced a complete inability to use their pelvic muscles, leading to extreme discomfort and uncontrollable urination. Something sold as the answer to every patient’s dreams was really a nightmare waiting to happen, as our Boston transvaginal mesh injury attorneys have seen all too often.
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May 18, 2015

Report: Xarelto Sales Down

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While Bayer AG, the German pharmaceutical giant, has seen a recent increase in quarter-over-quarter profits, sales numbers for their bestselling drug, Xarelto, have actually dropped this past quarter for the first time since the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it for market.

Xarelto is a member of a class of drugs known as New Oral Anticogulants (NOACs) and, despite what drug makers claim, has been marketed as a replacement for Warfarin (Coumadin) for patients suffering from a serious medical condition known as atrial fibrillation (Afib). Afib is a serious heart condition, which can cause a patient to have a stroke or other serious clotting disorder. Due to Afib, patients must take either a blood thinner or other anticoagulant to prevent clots from forming. Not only can these clots block an artery causing heart failure or stroke, they can break free from the deep veins in which they formed and travel through the patient’s circulatory system to the lungs. If they puncture a hole in a patient’s lung, it leads to a serious medical condition known as a pulmonary embolism, which often results in death of a patient.
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May 15, 2015

Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Hypogonadism

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

This time of year, there are a lot of sports to choose from on television. With the NBA and NHL playoffs in full swing, NASCAR racing and a still new Major League Baseball season underway, many are heading to sports bars, which have enough screens to watch them all at once.

With all of these sports on television, it is almost impossible not to be subjected to a near constant barrage of commercials for testosterone replacement therapy drugs. These commercials tell men who are getting older and losing hair, gaining weight, feeling tired, suffering from mild depression and losing muscle tone (signs of normal male aging) their issues are really symptoms of having a low testosterone count. They can treat this “condition” by taking testosterone hormones, according to drug companies.

They have created a pretty compelling advertising campaign. What middle-aged man does not want to feel 20 years younger?

As it turns out, United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved testosterone replacement therapy drugs to treat aging, but rather a very rare medical condition known as hypogonadism. Patients who suffer from hypogonadism have under-functioning glands and do not promote enough of the hormone.
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May 12, 2015

A Look at Xarelto Lawsuits

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Xarelto, like Eliquis and Pradaxa, are members of a class of drugs known as New Oral Anticoagulants (NOACs). While, technically, they are not a blood thinner like Coumadin (Warfarin), as they are closer to a class of medications known as statins, their respective makers hope they will go head-to-head with Warfarin and eventually replace it as the treatment of first resort for many patients.

Warfarin itself has a rather interesting history, as it was first discovered in relation to a disease that was killing cattle in the 1920s. After being created, it was then marketed as a rodenticide agent, and later used (unsuccessfully) by the United States Army as an experimental suicide agent. Eventually, it became used for its current purpose to treat atrial fibrillation patients.
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May 9, 2015

Running With an Artificial Knee Implant

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While total knee replacement surgery is primarily done in older patients who have suffered years of arthritis, there is another group of patients who might be in need of an artificial knee joint. This group consists of younger athletes and those who may not even be athletes, but frequently engage in running activities such as races, marathons and triathlons.

For many of these people who are experiencing knee pain, there is a fear of going to a doctor. Their fear is based upon a belief their doctor will tell them they need a knee replacement, and after they get one, they will never be able to run again, because an artificial joint was not designed for repeated impact of regular running.

As discussed in a recent news article from the San Francisco Examiner, doctors who frequently work with patients who enjoyed running believe every year a patient can get out of their natural knee, the better. This does not mean dealing with pain until it becomes unbearable, but rather trying less invasive surgical techniques short of total knee replacement. Some of these techniques include arterial cartilage paste grafting and rebuilding a patient’s damaged meniscus or replacing it without replacing the entire knee joint. This is sometimes known as a reconstruction or partial knee replacement. Robotic surgical techniques can be used to perform a series of less invasive replacements of individual knee components. This is in contrast to the traditional advice, which is often to do nothing until the pain becomes too bad to handle after years of further deterioration.
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May 6, 2015

A Look at Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH, recently featured a program showing what it is like to be in the operating room during a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery. Traditional methods involved making a 12-inch incision along the side of a patient’s hip and dislocating the hip joint from the pelvis. This method, still used in patients over 60 and who have other health issues, requires patients to stay in the hospital for days or even weeks and undergo a slow and painful recovery process. The large incision also increases the risk patients will develop a serious infection following surgery.

With minimally invasive techniques, only a six-inch incision is needed at the top of a patient’s hip, and dislocation is not required in many cases. This means a patient can typically go home that same night and sleep in his or her own bed. This also means there will be less pain during recovery, less risk of an artificial hip failure, and less time away from work or one’s other daily routine.

The reason doctors are able to perform a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery is though the use of modern technology. It all begins with surgeons and radiologists working together to take a CT scan of the patient’s pelvic area while he or she is in the operating room. Doctors then use a computer and the CT image to make a three dimensional virtual model of exactly how the operation will work. There is an electronic signaling device used to guide the surgeon while he or she is watching a monitor while the movements occur inside the patient.
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May 2, 2015

Obesity and Knee Replacement Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Many doctors tell overweight patients suffering from knee problems that being obese is a major contributing factor to their joint damage. This is the same information that doctors have been telling their patients for decades and should come as a surprise to nobody. However, many patients are already dealing with enough joint deterioration to need a total knee replacement procedure sooner rather than later.

A recent news article from U.S. News and World Report takes a closure look at this issue. One patient interviewed for the story was 60-years-old and was in need of a total knee replacement procedure. She was retired as a schoolteacher because her severe arthritis made it virtually impossible for her to do her job. She could not walk up and down the building’s three flights of stairs any longer. She had no cartilage left her in one knee by that point. She was experiencing bone on bone friction every time she walked.

She said she was always overweight since she was child. As an adult, she spent years trying to a find a surgeon who would be willing to perform a total knee replacement while she was obese. She was told to have bariatric surgery, lose weight, and come back for another consultation. She was not willing to have bariatric surgery, due to all of the dangers she had learned about the procedure.
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April 29, 2015

Total Hip Replacement Surgery for Young Patients

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When we think of total hip replacement surgery, we typically think of older patients. Many times, a hip replacement is needed to treat years of pain caused by increasing osteoarthritis.

In some elderly patients, more commonly women, a fall can result in a broken hip, which is often treated with hip replacement surgery. However, hip replacement surgery is not only used on elderly Americans. Sometimes hip replacement surgery patients are much younger.

According to a recent news feature from Health Line, hip replacement surgery is commonly performed in young patients who suffer from juvenile arthritis. More specifically, physicians are using it to conditions known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), which is a form of arthritis that can occur at any age (most commonly young patients) and is caused by an autoimmune response. These conditions can be treated with a total hip replacement, as would be done with patients in their 60s and 70s. But the problem lies with the expected lifespan of the artificial hip implant.

Under normal conditions, including wear and tear from for ordinary use, an artificial hip implant, if designed properly, will last around ten years, though sometimes longer. When a patient is around 70 years of age, the lifespan of the hip is similar to the lifespan of the patient, so this does not present a significant problem. It is not as if a properly constructed artificial hip will simply fail all at once. Rather, years of wear will make it become loose and start to cause pain to the patient.
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April 22, 2015

New Alternatives to Total Knee Replacement Surgery May Prevent Complications

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Each year, more Americans are choosing to undergo total knee replacement surgery than ever before. The surgery involves removing a patient’s deteriorated natural knee and replacing it with an artificial joint. The most common cause of knee problems leading to a total knee replacement is arthritis. Osteoarthritis affects millions of patients and typically gets worse as the patient gets older. The pain gets to a point where the patient can no longer stand it, and he or she elects to undergo a joint replacement procedure. There are other medical conditions that require a total knee replacement, such as sports injury or a serious accident, such as a fall.
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