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Australia, australian orthopaedic association, chromium levels, chromium toxicity, Herald Sun, Meet the Press, Necrosis, peak professional body, Smith & Nephew, Smith and Nephew, Sunday, sunday herald sun, Sunday Mail, Sunday Telegraph
Just remember patients, this is actually your fault!
I have just read with great interest Howard’s response to the letter from Smith and Nephew regarding the Birmingham hip and after my recent experiences with the ASR there is something I wanted to share with everyone. Firstly for those here in Australia, I have been interviewed for the Sunday edition of News Ltd Newspapers (Sunday Mail in Qld, Sunday Telegraph in NSW, Sunday Herald Sun in Vic, etc.) and I believe the story is going nationwide as the interview came out of Canberra, I am also appearing on the Current Affairs program “Meet the Press” on Channel 10 on Sunday morning for a panel discussion which I am led to believe (speaking to the interviewer today) is about everything from approval failures to my experiences to medical company/surgeon ethics! So as this is live it should be interesting, for those outside of Australia it should be available on the web, I will (in conjunction with Earl of course) put up any links after the event that may help everyone to view these.
But what I wanted to share and would be very interested in others experiences, is something that my surgeon told me last week and also after reading Howard’s letter response I think it is even more important. Here in Australia the peak professional body for Orthopaedic Surgeons (apparently these people are ‘independent’ of any medical company or other organisation) is the Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA). The AOA has recently sent a memo to their members with the following directive:
“When discussing with patients the issue of elevated Cobalt/Chromium levels, please be mindful of the following points. Up until now elevated levels of these two elements have been referred to as ‘Cobalt/Chromium Toxicity’ or ‘Cobalt/Chromium Poisoning’. It is advised that in the current climate, that this should now be referred to as ‘Cobalt/Chromium Sensitivity’! In other words this ‘independent’ organisation is doing everything in their power to protect the medical companies who have produced these products by taking the inference of toxicity or poisoning out of the statement and replacing it with a ‘reaction’ type word in other words, it isn’t our fault for poisoning your bodies, it is your fault for actually daring to react to that poisoning!! Apart from being dumbfounded when I heard this, I must admit that I did very quickly become angry, I would be very interested to hear if anyone else has experienced anything such as this (remembering that I was fortunate that my surgeon shared this with me as he was ‘disgusted’ by the AOA’s actions). So as far as they are concerned the Strokes, Blood Poisoning, Kidney Failure, Poor Bone/Fracture Healing, Tissue Necrosis (death), Hearing/Sight loss/deterioration, just to name a few, are all actually our fault not theirs as our bodies reacted to the poison that was introduced to us, nothing at all to do with the fact that this stuff shouldn’t have been ‘roaming free’ within our systems in the first place!!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, I am looking forward to Sunday morning after 6 months of further declining health, pain and poor mobility I think keeping it ‘short and sweet’ will be my biggest challenge! I would be very interested to hear of others experiences regarding what I have written above and I will also be interested in feedback regarding the media stuff. I look forward to speaking to you all again soon!
Cheers,
Stu Cain
Related articles
- Smith & Nephew Letter (earlsview.com)
- Hip Resurfacing an Alternative to Hip Replacement (hothealthnews.wordpress.com)
- Smith And Nephew Unveils New Hip Device (smithnephewhip.wordpress.com)
- DePuy Defective Hip Implant Claims | eLocal (elocallawyers.com)
Read with interest, and admiration for getting the information ‘out there’ to all of us who have suffered, and go on suffering-in one manner or another. Huge thanks to Earl
Will try and plug in, to this programme. The miracle is that we are still alive, to see a justifiable outcome. Orthopaedic world of implant devices, has lost a lot of creditability, and live in denial land, until/or unless they are confronted at a personal level The raft of obscure health problems, stemming from this atrocious fiasco, that has changed all our lives.is nothing short of criminal. Hope to tune in, on this broadcast.Jill.NZ
I will also be watching and reading with great interest. Thanks.
I was enormously heartened to receive this blog this morning. I had been considering what I should do and was about to contact Earl to see if something like this could be organised. I had my S&N Birmingham implanted in 2004 and removed in 2012 after enquiring with my OP if I should be checked after seeing a TV report. I was sent a form for a blood test and immediately called in for an examination, X-ray and scan. I had highly elevated levels of cobalt and chromium, a pseudo tumor and bone deteriotion. I had also noticed mild symptoms of rash, hearing and sight loss. The levels improved as did the mild symptoms after the op and I felt confident that all would be well. Then within weeks pain started again and on a return visit, a fracture in the bone near the new implant was discovered. Rather than another stint in surgery, I chose bed rest to heal it but it took much longer than anticipated to heal. I was stunned to learn of the fracture as I have very strong bones and never had a broken bone in my life and could not recall doing anything to cause it.
All went well although I have only recently been able to walk without an obvious limp and my cobalt/chromium levels continued to decline.
3weeks ago I became concerned at a reoccurrence of the old familiar pain and took myself back to my OP for an X-ray. No fracture this time but what is causing the pain? My OP thinks it will settle. A few days later, my GP informed me that my latest blood tests showed an increase in my chromium levels?? It was her idea to do regular tests on these levels, not my OP.
I had both my hips replaced by this surgeon and he has been excellent and is widely respected. My original implant was in 2000 before the infamous Birmingham and is still going strong. However I have been troubled by exactly the scenario described here since initially returning with the faulty hip. I felt a lot was either minimised or not spoken about and felt a reluctance to fully discuss the problem and any likely consequences.
So sorry for the long essay but more power to you! Best wishes for tomorrow and there are many of us who will be hoping for some action on this matter.
It’s a shame to know that this young man should be robbed of a quality of life for which he sought from his doctors and the medical devices they used. To know that he has had a fifth surgery is just unscrupulous on the part of the original doctor… his license should be revoked! I too am a hip replacement patient, now three years out, with no pain, no adverse side effects and no negative change in my otherwise good health. I feel bad for Stu and his situation and I commend him for doing whatever he thinks he can to spread the word. I will search for the video online as I’m in the US. Stay strong in your convictions to expose this atrocity!
Please check out the links from this blog on the toxicity effects of Co and Cr.
http://masstortinsider.com/2013/06/27/metal-on-metal-hip-toxicity-effects/