Joint Custody

Revisions, Recalls and Removals of medical implants. Who made your implant, what size is it, what is the serial number? Who Knows???

(PRWEB) December 18, 2003 --I was visiting a friend of mine in a rehab center in our neighborhood yesterday when the conversation took a fascinating, eye-opening twist. Bob had just had knee replacement surgery preceded two years ago by hip replacement surgery. I asked him how he felt and he said that while he experienced pain from the surgery and the rehab, it was nothing compared to agony he was in prior to the operation. I told Bob that it seems like half the people I know are getting implants these days, yet, ten or twenty years ago it seemed like just a wildly remote concept. Bob then made a very interesting point. He said he firmly believed that implants were part of the reason that life expectancy continues to increase.

“The pain I had was debilitating, to say the least. And pain, serious pain, will age you faster than anything I know.”

What remarkable products these implant are. They return functionality and in their own way help prolong life. How invaluable an artificial knee or hip or elbow can be. In light of our awe of these products I asked Bob the brand of his new knee.

“I don’t have a clue”, he replied.

“What about the manufacturer, the model number, the distributor? Do you have any of that information?”

“This really sounds stupid, but like I said, I don’t have the foggiest idea of any of that. When you think about it, I should probably know that stuff, but I’m sure Dutch (Bob’s orthopedic surgeon) will have all that information.”

“I’m sure he would, Bob” I responded, “But what if Dutch sells his practice or retires or moves away? What if there is a fire or another calamity that destroys the records he keeps?

“What if there is a recall for a specific knee because of a flaw in design or manufacturing? Will Dutch know and remember or can he find out what specific knee was implanted in you versus the thousands of his other patients?

“What if the manufacturer develops a minor enhancement to a specific model of a specific knee that could potentially eliminate any future corrective surgery? Would Dutch know you were a candidate? I ask that assuming Dutch is still alive, still has his practice, still lives here and still has all his files.”

“I really don’t know”, Bob said, “but I am guessing that answer to all that was “no.” It seems too formidable a task to push on a surgeon. He is a surgeon, after all, not a record keeping corporation. These are good questions, but frankly I simply never gave any of this a thought. Now it concerns me, and just between you and me, Dutch says he’s got another two years before he becomes a gentleman fisherman in Key Largo.”

“This is strictly coincidental, Bob, but my son has been explaining a concept to me for about a year now that until now was simply lost on me. He calls it an Implant Registry and it addresses everything we just talked about. In practice what happens is that you are given all the specific information about your implant from your doctor. Then, over the internet you enter all this data into www.implantregistry.com. So, everything that is known about your implant—manufacturer, make, model, distributor – everything becomes part of your personal knee implant history. And you do it all by answering to prompts from the Implant Registry. If you don’t have access to the internet the information can be entered for you. The government’s obsessive concern of your right to privacy is the main reason you are asked to input your own data.”

“I can enter the data, that’s no problem but, where do I get all the information? I don’t have it now.”

“Your doctor will give it to you. You don’t have it because you didn’t ask for it.”

“Why doesn’t the doctor’s staff enter all the data and keep the database?’

“Mainly, privacy issues, like we talked about, but the best reason for you to take charge is because it is your knee – bought and paid for. It is physically a part of your body. Nobody cares as much about that as you. Nobody.

“I don’t know if this is a factor but with all the malpractice liability a doctor must assume today the last thing I’m sure he wants is to carry the liability for your record keeping. Say he has a fire and your records are destroyed. In this litigious age we live in there will undoubtedly be a lawyer encouraging you to sue the doctor for damages. Doctors today already feel like they are walking around with bulls-eyes on their backs.”

Bob got to the point. “So, I think this is a fantastic idea – really a “no-brainer”, but how much is the Implant Registry going to cost me? Will it be covered by insurance?”

“That’s the most beautiful part of it all. It doesn’t cost you anything. Nothing. A little of your time -- for you tell The Registry about you. The sponsors of the Registry are the implant manufacturer’s themselves.

“Think about this. A great many operations today are called “revisions.” It simply means that the for some reason the surgeon must go back in and make some modification or change out part of the implant. Can you imagine the benefit to you if prior to that procedure every surgeon who is a “fellow” in the registry, with your permission, can access your records to see exactly what he will find when he re-opens the knee or hip or whatever? Without records every cut is surprise. Do you think your knee or hip would understand the humor in that?

“Can you imagine the benefit to the manufacturers if they could update on a case by case, implant by implant basis the enhancements to their products?”

“My son said the idea of a registry is not new. There is one, for example, for breast implants. There just hasn’t been one for orthopedic implants in this country.”

“This seems so simple so practical and so good for all parties concerned”, Bob said, “how come Dutch didn’t tell me about the Implant Registry?”

“He doesn’t know about it yet. It is being introduced as we speak. The company putting all the details together and bringing the doctors and manufacturers together is The Sanable Corporation. You will undoubtedly be hearing about them but I would stay in touch with Dutch and when he says it is available, you should jump.”

“With my new knee?”

SANABLE CORPORATION

WWW.IMPLANTREGISTRY.COM
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