Doctors Perform Knee Surgery on Senior Citizens

DePuy Knee Lawsuit News

How many senior citizens are having unnecessary total knee replacement surgery

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 - Orthopedic surgeons in the United States perform roughly 600,000 total knee replacement procedures per year. Over one-half of all knee replacement patients are senior citizens suffering from knee pain from osteoarthritis of the knee joint. The logic for recommending the new knee is to alleviate the patient's knee pain. A majority of knee replacement recipients report that they are satisfied with the procedure and are in less pain. Thousands of recipients of the DePuy knee replacement, however, have experienced an increase in knee pain after the surgery and also report that the pain never goes away. These knee replacement patients are required to undergo revision surgery to repair the artificial knee and some must have a totally new knee installed.

Approximately 5% of DePuy knee replacement systems fail prematurely each year. Because so many knee replacements are performed this amounts to tens of thousands of knee failures each year, some in as little as six months after surgery, due to the malfunctioning of the tibial baseplate, the lower portion of the knee that holds the device to the shin bone (tibia). When the cement that joins the device to the leg fails, metal to bone contact occurs causing chafing, bone loss, infection, and excruciating pain. DePuy knee replacement patients that experience Tibial baseplate loosening cannot walk and are forced into a wheelchair or to use crutches. DePuy has admitted that it brought a faulty medical device to market by creating and marketing The DePuy Revision Knee System, an artificial knee designed specifically to address Tibial baseplate malfunctions.

Americans never seem to ask the question whether or not their doctor is acting on behalf of their best interests or solely based on a profit motive. Doctors often must recommend the fastest and most profitable procedures. Performing knee replacement surgery is an extremely profitable business for orthopedic surgeons. The average surgical fee for a couple of hours of knee replacement surgery can be over $50,000. With so much money on the table, it is only natural that a doctor would stress the benefits of surgery and downplay or conveniently forget to explain the risks that a surgery presents. Doctors are running a business and sending potential patients away is bad business. If doctors do not make money they could be forced into another bankruptcy just like any other business. It would be great if a doctor only recommended surgery when there were no other alternatives but in today's world, this is not the case. Paramount in their decision making should be whether or not the patient will be better off after having the surgery. Trusting senior citizens are having their knees replaced in record number and they are increasing every year. Studies indicate that the number of knee replacement surgeries will increase by over 5 times the current number by the year 2030.

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