orthopedic surgery

Sarah Witter had two operations to repair bones in her lower left leg after a skiing accident last February. The second surgery was needed to replace a stabilizing plate that broke.

Health & Safety

Bill Of The Month Update: Skier To Get $6,358 Refund After Surgery For Broken Leg

1:56pm December 24, 2018

by Jordan Rau

Ski buff Sarah Witter will get $6,358 back from her hospital and insurer after a review of her bill following the NPR-Kaiser Health News story about her case.

Sarah Witter fractured two bones in her lower left leg while skiing in Vermont last February. She had two operations to repair the damage. The second surgery was needed to replace a metal plate that broke after it was implanted.

Health & Safety

Bill Of The Month: $43,208 For Repeat Surgery To Replace Broken Medical Device

6:42pm December 18, 2018

by Jordan Rau

If implanted medical devices fail, patients and their insurers usually have to pay for repairs. That financial responsibility falls to them even when the problems were solely with the devices.

Queue Listen Now

Ochsner Baptist Hospital in New Orleans hasn't needed device reps' help since it started using technology from a company called Sight Medical that handles inventory management.

Health & Safety

Sales Reps May Be Wearing Out Their Welcome In The Operating Room

4:05pm November 23, 2018

by Blake Farmer

It has been an open secret that salespeople are present for surgeries at many hospitals, especially for hip and knee implants. But does the reps' expertise outweigh concerns about ethics and costs?

The limbs had been evenly cut (left), and researchers were able to identify bullet holes (right).

Civil War Battlefield 'Limb Pit' Reveals Work Of Combat Surgeons

11:34am June 20, 2018

by Christopher Joyce

Scientists have been analyzing bones first uncovered by a utility crew digging at the Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. The remains provide insights into surgery during the Civil War.

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The clicker became a popular tool for dog training in the 1980s. Today, it has also caught on with humans--helping people to become better dancers, fishermen, golfers, and now, surgeons.

Science

When Everything Clicks: The Power Of Judgment-Free Learning

9:00pm June 04, 2018

There can be a lot of psychological noise involved in learning. And mental chit chat can make learning hard. One solution, silence it with a click.

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"As bad as NYU is, Aetna is equally culpable because Aetna's job was to be the checks and balances and to be my advocate," said Michael Frank, seen at his home in Port Chester, N.Y.

Health & Safety

Why Your Health Insurer Doesn't Care About Your Big Bills

2:38pm May 25, 2018

by Marshall Allen

Patients may think their insurers are fighting on their behalf for the best prices. But saving patients money is often not their top priority. Just ask Michael Frank about his hip surgery.

Eleven days after surgery on her shoulder and foot, Sherry Young of Lawton, Okla., got a letter from her insurance plan saying that it hadn't approved her hospital stay. The letter "put me in a panic," says Young. The $115,000-plus bill for the hospital s

Health & Safety

Sticker Shock Jolts Oklahoma Patient: $15,076 For 4 Tiny Screws

2:22pm May 14, 2018

by Liz Szabo

A woman with foot pain was floored by the high cost of titanium screws used in her surgery. "Unless the metal [was] mined on an asteroid, I do not know why it should cost that amount," she said.

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Dr. Joshua Jacobs, an orthopedic surgeon, displays a model of a cementless hip replacement in 2014.

Health & Safety

The Mysterious Case Of 'Vanishing Bone' And Hip Replacements Gone Wrong

6:00am March 11, 2018

by Carey Goldberg

Hip replacements in hundreds of thousands of people began to fail after what seemed like successful surgery. In some cases, people's bones became so weak, just walking could make them snap. Why?

Doctors think the chronic pain of "shoulder impingement" may arise from age-related tendon and muscle degeneration, or from a bone spur that can rub against a tendon.

Popular Surgery To Ease Chronic Shoulder Pain Called Into Question

7:44pm November 20, 2017

by Patti Neighmond

U.K. scientists say arthroscopic surgery to remove bone spurs or bits of ragged tissue in sore shoulders offered no more pain relief than than sham surgery in their randomized test.

No, he's not Popeye. He's a 79-year-old man with a surprisingly common injury.

Health & Safety

Pop-Ow! 'Popeye' Deformity Can Be A Painful Armful

5:16pm November 15, 2017

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Tendons quietly do their jobs for decades, connecting muscle to bone. Then suddenly — it's done. Here's what happens when a biceps tendon calls it quits.