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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
This is the latest study to find that arthroscopic surgery doesn't reduce pain for people with knee arthritis, and can cause other problems. The procedure remains popular in the U.S.
