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Friday, July 9, 2010

Failed Back Surgery and Implantable Neurostimulation System Lawsuits

Neurostimulator Medical Malpractice Lawsuits, Neurostimulation Product Liability Lawsuits, Implantable Neurostimulation Systems Lawsuits, and Failed Back Surgery Resulting in Permanent Disability and Paralysis Lawsuits  by Texas Failed Back Surgery Product Liability, Medical Negligence, & Defective Product Lawyer, Jason Coomer

Failed back surgery including defective implantable neurostimulation  systems can cause catastrophic injuries and impairment.  These failed back surgery cases can be caused by defective spinal-devices or medical negligence, and can take significant resources to investigate and litigate a lawsuit.  When investigating these potential failed back surgery lawsuits, it is important to know what implant had been used as well as to obtain medical records of the surgery.

Implantable Neurostimulation System Lawsuits, Defective Spinal Implant Devices, and Failed Spinal Cord, Neck, & Back Surgery Lawsuits

Implantable Neurostimulation Systems have been used for a variety of types of chronic back pain situations including heriniated disks, postlaminectomy paid, Complex Reginal Pay Syndrome, unsuccessful disk surgery, Degenerative Disk Disease, and Failed Back Syndrome.  In fact, implantable neurostimulation systems and other spinal-devices are a huge business for the medical implant device industry including Medtronic, a leader in medical implantable devices.   Medtronic’s spinal-devices unit has about $3 billion in annual revenue from selling spinal devices including the Medtronic implantable neurostimulation system.  With this success, several other companies are developing similar implantable neurostimulation systems. 

The Medtronic implantable neurostimulation system is indicated for spinal cord stimulation (SCS) as an aid in the management of chronic, intractable pain of the trunk and/or limbs—including unilateral or bilateral pain associated with several different conditions.   Unfortunately, there are several claims that the implantable neurostimulation system has some defects that can cause serious health problems.

In reviewing failed back surgery implant cases, the failed back surgery lawyers have to determine if the implantable neurostimulation system was properly implanted by the spinal surgeon that implanted the spinal device as well as if the spinal device has some type of defect such as loose leads.  For more information on this topic, feel free to go to the following web page, Failed Back Surgery and Defective Implantable Neurostimulation System Lawsuits. 

Patients with Serious Back Injuries Including Severed Spinal Cords, Crushed Discs, Bulged Discs, and Herniated Discs when Seeking Pain Relief can sometimes Fall Victim to Defective Products, Negligent Health Care, and "For Profit" Medical Professionals Seeking to Increase Profits

The human spinal cord is basically a bundle of nerves which is surrounded by 33 bones or vertebrae.  Located between each vertebrae is a spinal disc which is a liquid filled disc shaped pouch.  These discs are stacked on top of one another and act as shock absorbers allowing the spine to flex, bend, and twist.  When functioning properly, the vertebrae and discs protect the spinal cord allow nerve impulses to travel from and to the brain to other parts of the body.  This allows us to experience sensations, move our bodies, and control many bodily functions.

Problems arise when the vertebrae, discs, or spinal cord are injured.  Broken vertebrae can damage and impinge on discs or the spinal cord causing extreme pain, numbness, and loss of control of bodily functions.  Back injuries can occur through traumatic events that result in paralysis.  Depending where and how severe the injury is will determine what type and how severe the paralysis is.   

The human body has remarkable healing potential.  Combining determination, proper medical attention, knowledge about an injury, and focus on the healing process can greatly help most injuries.  Hiring a lawyer to battle the insurance companies and responsible parties can allow the injured person to focus on the healing process.     

If you or a loved one have suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury or other serious back injury including a severed spinal cord, broken vertebrae, crushed discs, herniated discs, or a bulged discs; the most important thing you can do is to find a good medical doctor to assess the injury so you know what you are dealing with and how to best treat the injury.  From physical therapy and steroid injections to back surgeries (lumbar diskectomy, cervical fusion, and other lumbar or cervical procedures), there are many different ways to treat a back injury and it is important to know what will work best for you.  

Unfortunately, there are also medical clinics, medical implant sales people, and doctors that are more interested in profit and their bottom line than what is best for a patient.  Some of these medical professionals carelessly cause painful and difficult conditions to become much worse by paralyzing patients that are seeking relief from pain.   

The "For Profit" System of Medicine Can Sometimes Cause Medical Negligence by Overworking Medical Professionals as well as Encouraging Clinics and Medical Providers to Maximize the Number of Surgeries and Procedures Performed Regardless of the Patient's Best Interest Resulting in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

Unfortunately, medical mistakes happen when doctors and nurses get too busy, are understaffed, under the influence of drugs, are just not paying attention, or are encouraged to perform unnecessary procedures to make a profit.  As medical budgets go down and healing people becomes more of a "for profit" business, cost cutting measures are causing more medical mistakes and encouraging unnecessary procedures on those with good insurance.  Overworked surgeons, doctors, residents, and nurses are much more likely to make mistakes than well rested health care professionals.

Medical mistakes also happen more often when no one is watching.  It is extremely important when you are in the hospital to have someone that is with you and watching out for your well being.  This is especially true if you have an allergy to certain types of medicines.  Communication with your health care professionals is also important and can greatly limit medical mistakes.

Further complicated procedures such as spinal cord surgery require extremely competent surgeons that are on the top of their game to successfully complete.  A patient needs to be extremely careful when having spinal cord surgery to make sure that they have a good surgeon and everyone understands the risks of the procedure.  In some cases, even the best surgeons that do everything correctly will have bad results and the spinal cord surgery will fail.  However, at other times a defective product, a "for profit" surgeon or clinic, or a careless surgeon can cause a failed spinal cord surgery that will paralyze a patient for life.

Defective Implantable Neurostimulation System Lawyers, Medical Negligence Failed Back Surgery Lawyers, and Combination Failed Implantable Neurostimulation System Medical Negligence Spine Surgery Lawyers (Defective Implantable Neurostimulation System Medical Device and Medical Negligence Lawsuits)

As the economic pressures of the medical system keep pushing medical providers to become "for profit" and prioritize making money over the health of individual patients; unnecessary procedures, overworked staff, using defective products, and making mistakes will become more common and hurt people.  It is extremely important to thoroughly investigate any clinic, hospital, surgeon or other health care provider prior to having spinal surgery, or any other complicated procedure.  Please feel free to go to the following web pages for more information on Failed Back Surgery and Defective Implantable Neurostimulation System Lawsuits, Texas Medical Malpractice Lawsuits, and Federal Medical Malpractice Lawsuits.

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