From a Broken Hip to a Broken Hip Replacement — What a 70 Year Old Should Never Have to Go Through

It was like something out of a horror show. We arrived at the hospital after receiving a telephone call that she fell. My grandmother, only 72 but with onset of dementia, fell while trying to walk to the restroom without assistance.

She was found by a nurse during the morning shift change. While this does not sound unusual, the circumstances surrounding the incident were. Since she liked to get out of bed on her own, she had a monitor on the bed which signaled the nurse’s station whenever there was a weight change. They basically were notified whenever she got out of bed so they could come to the room and assist.

Unfortunately, no one at the nurse’s station saw the warning (or ignored the warning). It was a gross case of negligence, something you wouldn’t even expect from a tent relief hospital in a disaster zone. It didn’t take long for us to get things taken care of with the hospital.

Six weeks after contacting an attorney, the hospital was more than willing to pay for the hip replacement. The fall should have actually killed her, but luckily for everyone she made it through. I am sure it was an easy decision for the hospital since they would have faced a lawsuit for negligence. Turns out, negligence of nursing staff is far too common in healthcare facilities.

The surgery went great. She was up and around the next day, engaging in physical therapy and learning to walk again. The new hip was like a miracle and helped her enjoy life for what was about 6 months. That is when the problems started.

Doctors initially thought it was the dementia getting worse. Confusion followed by emotional disturbances (waking up screaming, etc.) was chalked up to the disease. It was not until after the pain began in her side that doctors began to look deeper.

Blood tests revealed metallosis, a buildup of metal debris in body tissue. Doctors knew immediately the cause which turns out is even as common as negligence of nursing staff. Medical device lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers such as DePuy Orthopedics, Stryker, Biomet, Smith & Nephew, and Zimmer, all claiming their devices have caused metallosis. Parts within defective hip replacements often rub, causing small pieces of metal to break free and lodge into body tissue causing metallosis.

Our worse fears were confirmed when doctors elected to perform another hip replacement, this time with a more stable implant made of titanium. One year later she is still enjoying life, although remembering less and less of it. Sad to say that she had to spend the last few enjoyable years of her life, living with the most non-enjoyable feeling in her body. Hopefully I will not go through the same when my time arrives.