RE: Re: THR recommendations – I need a chill pill!

[Guest guest]

Alan

“Most doctors are people…†– I’m pleased I didn’t meet some of the

doctors you’ve met.

Joke apart, the cynic in me says that money is a factor which should not be

ignored. OSs appear to be making more profit from carrying out THR than from

‘resurfacing’. I’d guess that in the USA they may also think about

liability / insurance indemnity linked to a new procedure. And, as you say,

learning a new ‘trick’ takes time and while you’re learning you’re not

earning. So, it seems it’s less of “hard to tech an old dog a new trickâ€

than “$-based decision-makingâ€.

* +44 (0)7974 981-407

@ dan.milosevic@...

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From: Alan Ray

Sent: 18 May 2004 19:43

To: surfacehippy

Subject: Re: THR recommendations – I need a chill pill!

Dave...

Let me offer a couple of following notes. Given what I've seen,

heard, and read...I'm ready to believe that THR is a much less

demanding surgery -- for the doctor. It requires less precision. it

requires less attention to detail. It requires no training in a new

procedure. Put the extra training into the mix with the fact that

surgeons don't get good at these procedures before they've done 50 or

so, and we may be getting a little closer to the reason for the

apparently unreasoned resistence to a " new " surgical technique.

Most doctors are people, and most people will take the path of least

resistance. THR is, when you get right down to it, a pretty crude

way to fix a hip. Resurfacing is simple and elegant...in its

conception...and in its approximation of the way the joint really

works.

Until I asked him about resurfacing, I had a fair respect for the

OS/sports med doc who diagnosed my condition. I asked him whether

I'd be a candidate for resurfacing. He spent ten minutes bad-

mouthing the procedure, never once explaining why I wouldn't be a

good candidate. But he really did want to put in a Biomet THR.

Won't be talking to him again.

Getting the information about resurfing has actually been a wonderful

adventure of discovery: discovery of the consoling realization that

I'm not alone with hip problems; discovery of a whole area of

medicine that looks forward, not back. I could go on; but I've got

to go limp home...and wait for JRI to call with my insurance

information.

Alan

> Do remember in March of 1997 when the Heaven's Gate cult members

> committed suicide to hitch a ride to heaven on the Hale-Bopp

comet?

> Do you recall your thoughts at the time? Did you wonder how someone

> could put their trust in another's belief without applying a

> modicum of their own intelligence before taking such drastic

action?

> Well now you know how I feel when I read about someone deciding on

> THR over resurfacing.

>

> Okay, okay, I'm sorry - this is way too harsh a comparison.

> First, let me quickly add that I'm extremely sympathetic to

> anyone experiencing debilitating joint pain. We've all been

> there and life sucks. But many of us have discovered the freedom

of

> recapturing a very active, pain-free lifestyle through a procedure

> that is still treated like a poor stepchild by much of the medical

> community. I just don't understand why THR continues to be

> favored over resurfacing. So please forgive the Hale-Bopp

comparison

> and help me out. When this community has, what is to us,

> overwhelming first-hand evidence that resurfacing is superior, why

is

> an inferior option so frequently prescribed? THR is a viable plan

B,

> but why is it so frequently promoted as the favored option?

>

> Your thoughts are appreciated... even on what I can take to calm

down.

>

> Dave

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