Knee Replacement Surgery Carries Incredible Risks

DePuy Knee Lawsuit News

Most knee replacement patients will not get an optimal outcome from major surgery

Monday, July 29, 2019 - DePuy Synthes maker of the world's leading knee replacement device, the DePuy Revision Knee Replacement System, admits that certain individuals will likely not experience an optimal outcome from knee replacement surgery. Those people fall into the two groups that make up the majority of knee replacement surgeries, the elderly and the obese or overweight. Surgeons are constantly recommending and performing knee replacements on these two often overlapping groups, and the results are that patients are generally dissatisfied with the surgical outcome. Elderly and obese people are usually unable to perform the months and years of rigorous physical therapy that knee replacement requires but that does not seem to factor into a doctor's knee replacement recommendations. DePuy Syntheses, maker of the DePuy Knee Replacement, deflects responsibility onto doctors who are required to screen patients and the company writes about this in its important safety information portion at the bottom of their knee replacement web page as follows: "The performance of knee replacements depends on age, weight, activity level and other factors. There are potential risks and recovery takes time. People with conditions limiting rehabilitation should not have this surgery. Only an orthopedic surgeon can tell if knee replacement is right for you." Elderly and overweight knee replacement patients may need immediate revision surgery when their device loosens, however many more complain that their knee never lived up to its billing and that they cannot walk without looseness, wobbliness, and more importantly extreme pain. More can be accomplished to relieve arthritis knee pain by improving your diet, losing weight and joining a regular yoga class than by having traumatic knee replacement surgery. DePuy knee lawyers represent people harmed by medical device defects may be eligible for real compensation for the pain, suffering, medical expenses, lost income and other damages suffered by filing a claim against DePuy.

In addition to being unqualified for knee replacement, surgery in and oneself carries incredible risks. We are well aware that infection often sets in from any one of a number of sources at the site of the surgery and also after surgery as the body's immune system attacks the foreign, plastic object, or has an allergic reaction to the metal components that have been inserted into the body. Surgical patients are at risk for blood clots in the legs called deep vein thrombosis, as well as pulmonary embolism clots in the lungs. Healthline.com informs us that the surgical process stimulates the body's blood clotting process to stop surgical bleeding and these clots can be carried through the bloodstream and become stuck in the smaller veins causing serious problems such as strokes and heart attacks. Knee replacement patients with pre-existing blood clotting issues are at more risk than others. Many seniors are taking blood clotting or blood pressure medications. General anesthesia also complicates surgery in surprising ways. Healthline.com com lists the serious, adverse events that have occurred from general anesthesia as "dental trauma, swelling of the windpipe, allergic reactions to latex, wheezing, vocal cord injury, stomach problems, and injuries to the arteries, veins, and nerves."

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