Knee Replacement Patient Dissatisfaction May Be As High as 20%

DePuy Knee Lawsuit News

Honestly defining knee replacement success early on is the key to managing knee replacement expectations

Tuesday, February 19, 2019 - The Holy Cross Orthopedic Institute has written a scathing article that points out that there is a strikingly large percentage of unhappy knee replacement patients. The institute points to studies that reveal over 20% of total knee replacement patients do not consider the results of their knee replacement as satisfactory. Compare that number to the 2-3% dissatisfaction rate that knee replacement manufacturers tell doctors to expect.

Doctors at the Institute pointed out that no two knee replacement patients are exactly the same and in some groups the differences are stark. Senior citizens that live a relatively sedate lifestyle are far more likely to be content with their artificial knee than a 30-year-old male or female that expects to get back to long-distance running or their soccer or basketball team. The 15-20 year life expectancy of the artificial knee may very well be accurate in a senior citizen that does little physical activity besides grocery shopping whereas an artificial knee will probably fail in weeks or months if an athlete attempts to place repetitive stresses on the artificial joint. The younger total knee replacement patient may have greater success in reducing their pain as they will be more inclined to engage in the strenuous physical therapy that knee replacement requires. Seniors, on the other hand, will tend to do the least possible physical therapy and never fully enjoy the pain-free benefits that the doctor told them to expect. Defective knee lawyers handling DePuy knee lawsuits are experienced national attorneys representing families or persons harmed by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

There are an array of symptoms that can cause total knee replacement patients dissatisfaction. Doctors that re-examine an artificial knee to see if it working properly follow a checklist of problems and potential solutions. The first and most obvious is a general pain. The second is pain caused by fluid build up around the knee that also causes stiffness and wobbliness and a feeling of not being able to trust the new knee. Other patients reporting to the Holy Cross Orthopedic Center have complained that their new knees are "simply not comfortable or do not feel natural." Some patient's pain is constant, even while attempting to sleep, and others only are in discomfort while walking. A doctor will also want to know if the patient is taking pain medication or "icing down" the knee to relieve the pain.

Unfortunately, doctors usually fail to mention the wide array of potential problems that could occur from total knee replacement and focus only on the best case scenario. Just look at the DePuy Syntheses web site to see for yourself how overly optimistic the company is pertaining to the outcomes of the DePuy replacement knees. Images on the website infer a complete recovery back to the patient's previous physical activity level with pictures of senior men playing handball of all sports, (Handball may be the most physically demanding sport of all on the knee for its start and stop and lateral motion requirements.) The site shows a picture of a senior woman kneeling down, to plant flowers with her grandchildren. (If there is one activity that nearly all knee replacement patients say they can not do without pain is to kneel on the artificial joint). Knee replacement patients are given overly optimistic expectation that may be responsible for knee replacement's high dissatisfaction rates.

More Recent DePuy Knee Lawsuit News: