Orthopedic Surgeon Installs Hip Implant That Requires Revision

Case Overview

This case involves a fifty-two-year-old patient who sustained a sub-capital right hip fracture following a slip and fall. She was immediately taken to the local trauma center and underwent hip surgery by an orthopedic surgeon. The physician performed a bipolar endoprosthesis of the right hip using a ceramic Stryker Orthopaedics UHR Universal Head Bipolar Component. Following surgery, the patient complained of immediate pain, which remained during the months following the surgery. The patient’s surgeon, however, was sentenced to prison time on financial fraud charges during the course of her follow-up treatment and required the patient to seek treatment from another orthopedic surgeon. The diagnostic testing ordered by the second physician revealed that the source of the patient’s pain was the right hip bipolar prosthesis. Further investigation yielded evidence of a translucent line around the femoral prosthesis. The new surgeon suspected that loosening of the device was most likely the cause of discomfort and the patient was recommended for a total right hip revision surgery.