It’s unfortunately easy to damage hip replacements. After years of use, microscopic fragments break off and weaken the underlying bone. Modern hip replacement materials withstand ordinary wear better, but even these can shed enough particles to damage bone and irritate the sounding skin. Most replacement hips are designed to outlast your life expectancy, but this is not a guarantee or an assurance of any kind. Life and usage of hips are unpredictable, so the patient assumes the risk of failure. However, lawsuits to recover damages after an unexpectedly short period of usage can prove successful if you can prove negligence or an issue involving the surgeon’s technique or competence or the day of surgery.
Most hip replacements will outlive you, but don’t be surprised if some medical company eventually offers terms like a money-back guarantee. Unfortunately, the complications of adjusting to a hip replacement make the cost less important to most patients. People are more concerned with healing and adjustment times than the cost. According to a post at enjuris.com, hip replacements generate serious side effects and potential complications. It’s possible that filing a lawsuit is your only practical way to recover some of the expenses invested in revision surgeries.
What to Do After Hip Replacement Failure
The first step of a hip replacement lawsuit is determining whom to blame. Did the surgeon make an error or fail you to warn you about potential side effects? Was the manufacturer negligent about quality control, or was your hip replacement a defective product? In some cases, you might sue both the surgeon and manufacturer.
Litigation surrounding hip surgeries and implants often focus on negligence in failing to disclose that new hardware will be inserted in your body that makes you partially bionic. That causes many patients or emotional damage.
Suing for Hip Replacement Damages
Deciding whether to sue for a faulty hip is a personal decision based on life expectancy, personal dissatisfaction, and your determination to get fair value for your investment in a critical medical procedure. According to a post at drugwatch.com, things that could go wrong include:
- Complications include a change in leg length.
- You might experience side effects that include blood clots, postoperative infection, fractures, and leg dislocation or even develop metallosis, a form of metal poisoning that severely damages surrounding tissue.
- You might require revision surgery to deal with joint dislocation.
- Adverse reactions to anesthesia are common.
- You might experience damage to nearby tissue, blood vessels, bone, and nerves.
- Hip replacements don’t always relieve chronic pain.
- Developing pneumonia is a frequent side effect.
Given the long list of potential problems, your doctor might recommend that you pass on hip replacement surgery or wait until you have a healthier body and a more favorable prognosis.
Risk Factors and Hip Replacement Options
According to an article posted atsocalregenclinic.com, there are many risk factors associated with hip replacement surgery. These include obesity, age, gender rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, HIV, cancer, diabetes, and liver disease.
The types of hip replacements available include metal and plastic implants, metal on metal implants, and ceramic implants. The latter is becoming increasingly popular. Although some metal is used to reinforce the bone, the ball and socket are made entirely of ceramic material, which resists scratching and functions more smoothly over time.
Conclusion
The only way that some patients can afford another hip replacement procedure is by filing a medical malpractice lawsuit for the previously failed hip replacement.
Contact a medical malpractice lawyer serving Pittsburgh to discuss your options. Be aware that nobody is completely immune to the risks of hip replacement surgery. Think long and hard about the best-case scenario benefits versus the costs, risks, and long recovery time. Each person is unique, and you might prefer to take the risk than suffer continuous pain and reduced ability to walk and get around.
