Failed Hip Replacement

[Ivor]

I had a hip replacement, and 5 days after my replacement my wound opened up and started leaking. I went to my Dr and he closed the wound with some band aid plaster. The wound carried on leaking for about a week and then closed up. My 3 months on crutches was uneventfull, then a week after I started walking without crutches I started to experience extreme pain when walking  and had to go back to 2 crutches . My Dr diagnosed bursitis . Within another 2 weeks I had to go out in a wheelchair because it felt as if the prosthesis was loose when I moved about, and it was just to painfull to leave my bed. I started experiencing pain that caused me to cry like a baby, I also got fever attacks that forced me to be covered by three blankets although it was summer time. My only visits was to my Dr weekly in a wheelchair and he still diagnosed bursitis. This carried on for 4 months. I then developed a ball the size of a gholf ball on my wound which had too be drained by another surgeon as my surgeon was on holiday. This particular surgeon felt that I had an infection and that I should be hospitalized at once. He spoke to my Dr but he instructed him to send me home with more pain killers, anti biotics and anti inflamatories. he still diagnosed bursitis, although my wound carried on leaking for about 10 days. I carried on seeing him for another 2 months with the symptoms of extreme pain, fever and a general feeling of malaise. My only outings was to see him. He eventually diagnosed an infection  after another 2 months i had the bubble on my wound. I spent 3 years in and out of hospital, had irrigation, another replacement, but the infection came back(staph aureus) and had to have my hip permanently removed.My Dr also did not use drains after my innitial operation. could he have intervened at some stage to prevent my from being totally disabled? Is he guilty of negligence? I have a website concerning this matter it-could-happen-to-you.com

Thanks for your time

Regards

[stein74]

Marius:  I am a lawyer in California USA and surely you understand that the legal system in SA is probably quite different than in the US and therefore, I would not know what your legal remedies may be, if any.  Furthermore, I am not a medical doctor and should not be considered a good source to answer your medical questions.  Firstly, you should know that there is a lot of litigation going on in the US regarding defective hip implants.  There are class action lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson and other major manufacturers of the defective devices.  My advice would be that you determine the brand name of any hip components that failed for you and then research whether any legal action is happening in SA regarding these products. Or, you can let me know what brand implants failed for you and I might be able to offer some remedies.

In regards to difference in laws, in the US and I suspect in SA also, there is a time limit in which to file a lawsuit for medical malpractice or otherwise.  Here it is one or two years with some exceptions giving more time.  Sounds like in your case the medical negligence if any was several years ago. Based on SA law, it may be too late anyhow.

Also sounds to me like you had a MRSA infection. That is, an antibiotic resistent infection that is very difficult to treat and it is very damaging to body tissues. Whether your surgeon could have prevented it or treated it better, I can't say.  So, first thing to do is find out the brand of implant that failed for you and secondly, use google to find out the time limit to file a professional negligence case in SA.  I don't even know if the SA civil legal system allows such cases. Surely the best course of action for you to is determine if there are attorneys in SA that handle medical malpractice cases and if so, contact one of them.  They would be able to provide much better answers for you. That's all I can offer.  Best of luck.