ATTORNEYS LAW STUDENTS PUBLIC
TOP POSTS ALL POSTS SUBMIT POST
Share | Print | Report Post Products Liability Chatboard

Hot Now...
• Attorney Chat Center
• Attorney Classifieds
• Attorney Chatboards
• Practice Areas
• Law Students
Most Popular
• Set Your Quick Links
• Chat Center
• All Chatboards
• Classified Ads


Re: medtronic spinal cord stimulator
Posted by Bob on 5/26/08

    On October 26, 07 I had a trial put in. For 3 days I was in Intense
    pain. Had them removed, and my wife saw puss around the leads, was
    told it was antibotic treatment. Went home, that morning at 2 A.M.
    I was rushed to the hospital, White cell count was 11,300,and was
    sent home. THat same day had an emergency MRI, was told to proceed
    to a trauma center, do not go home. Took 6 hours to find out what
    was wrong, was told I would be on I.v. treatment for a few days.
    Well the next morning, I had a Laminectomy and was told about a cup
    of liquified puss came out. Was in for 6 day with drains. Had a
    Pic line, which got blood clotted, now I have been recommended to
    have this voo doo stretching to stretch out my bones, Last night I
    was in the hospital with what I thought was kidney stones, it was
    not, possible never damage. I am only 54 and been active all my
    life. NEVER GET AN EPIDURAL! Apparently this all stemmed from a
    dirty needle. My life is just about over, I can't do anything, just
    lay down all day. On blood thinners since November and scared to go
    off. The hospital stated I had MSSA, in November, but in December
    it is now showing up on med reports that it was MRSA. I am in worse
    pain than I ever was before. Take heed, no epidurals and No
    stimulator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    On 12/14/06, Larry Singleton wrote:
    > On 12/14/06, Larry Singleton wrote:
    >
    > Re: MEDTRONICS SPINAL STIMULATOR
    > Posted by Larry Singleton on 11/30/06
    >
    > on 11/20/06, Larry Singleton wrote:
    >
    > I had the Medtronics pain stimulator installed in Jan of 2005, and
    > from the very instant I got in recovery, the unit would not work
    > properly. By that, I mean I had to position my body by either
    > flexing or extending my lower back to get the unit to work at all.
    > Also sometimes, it would hurt all the way up into my stomach and
    > chest cavity. When the unit did that, the next 3 or 4 days felt
    > like I had a severe stomach strain and my chest area hurt so bad
    it
    > felt like I had broken ribs. I guess it was because the muscles in
    > those areas were getting shocked by the unit and caused the pain.
    >
    > My Dr. told me that the wires just needed to scar into place.
    > After another month, I saw my Dr. again, and he said that due to
    > postering and positional problems of the leads, he needed to do a
    > laminindectomy and install another set of leads that have paddles
    > on the end of the wires to correct the problem. I also was
    > beginning to have some pain in my right hip where he installed the
    > Stimulator unit.
    >
    > He said that it would take approx. 4-6 weeks before he could put
    > the new paddles in the thoracic area of my spine, which would be
    in
    > late April. He installed the new leads on April 19,2006. On May
    > the 17th, I was admitted into the hosptal with a blood pressure of
    > 60 over 40 and was diagnosed with a Aureas MRSA staph infection
    and
    > they had to take the battery out and perform a debridement of the
    > skin, suncutaneous tissue, muscle and bone of my right hip. I got
    > out 10 days later.
    >
    > The infectious disease Dr. put a PIC line in my right arm that
    went
    > all the way in the vena cavae of my heart. I then had to do 2 IV
    > injections a day for 3 months that took approx. 30-45 minutes for
    > the medicine to completely dispense. In July they removed the PIC
    > line and then told me I had to take more antibiotics for 42 more
    > days to be sure that they totally got rid of the infection.
    >
    > On Aug. 31,2006 my back started getting warm again, and when I
    went
    > in to see the Dr., they drained 3 large syringes of fluid out of
    my
    > lower back and right side. I was put in the hospital again for the
    > same infection, and this time the Dr. took the leads out that he
    > left in, because the infection was spreading to my upper back.
    > They did the same debridement procedure again from my thoracic
    area
    > down to my hip and installed another PIC line in my arm for
    another
    > 6 weeks of IV antibiotics at home. In Sept., they had to drain the
    > fluid another time and said this was normal with the infection I
    > had.
    >
    > Basially, the Dr. told me that because I am big boned in my spinal
    > canal area, that the leads just could not scar into place, and he
    > said that he could not do anything else for me. At this time, I
    > also told him that where he installed the pain stimulator in my
    > hip, that I now had a bony growth that was growing down the right
    > side of my spine. They just said iy was from previous surgeries
    > that I had where they took donor bone out to do a couple of
    > fusions. I told him that the growth was not there until after the
    > spine stimulator had been implanted. He blew me off. It is now
    > appox. 3-4 inches long, approx. 3/4 to 1 inch wide and about 3/4
    of
    > an inch high.
    >
    > I have done some research on my own, and I would like to know if
    > anybody else has gone through this same thing, and has anybody
    else
    > had the stimulator installed in their hip instead of their side.
    > The Medtronics literature says to never install the unit in the
    hip
    > area.
    >
    > It is now Nov. 30th, and my new Dr's. are going to do what should
    > have been done in the first place and fix 2 broken fusions that
    the
    > other Dr. did not know about.
    >
    > Also, this happened at Texas Back Institute in Plano, Texas which
    I
    > found out is owned 51 &37; by Medtronics.
    >
    > Ain't that something!
    >
    > Larry Singleton
    > larsingle@aol.com
    >
    >
    > On 11/28/06, Millard wrote:
    >> 11/28/06 I am so relieved to hear someone else has had similar
    >> problems with the stimulator I had an incident where the co.
    >> rep. mishandled the programer and had a very sever shock and it
    >> has left me with pain in new area and I think nerve damage the
    >> Dr. also said it should resolve itself, well 5 yrs. later it
    >> still the same. I would like to hear from anyone with similar
    >> problem Millard
    >>
    >> On 5/08/06, janis wrote:
    >>> On 5/07/06, Michele wrote:
    >>>> On 4/19/06, Janis wrote:
    >>>>> Has any one had this implant turn on with out the remote
    >>>>> and causing stimulation through out the whole body? If so
    >>>>> could you please let me know by e-mailing me.
    >>>> nfler4@msn.com
    >>>> Janis,
    >>>>
    >>>> Yes I only had the scs for about 7 months but two different
    >>>> times in the middle of the night it shocked my whole body
    >>>> and I thought I was going to die I was able to move just
    >>>> enough to grab the remote and shut it off. I thought for
    >>>> sure I at least had nerve damage because it was like being
    >>>> stuck by lighting. O f course I called the doc the next day
    >>>> and he said it was no big deal (like I was being a big baby)
    >>>> and there is no way it can damage you. After all I went
    >>>> through with the scs I very much doubt that is the truth.
    >>>> You can see my post from 5/6/06. I believe he lied and
    >>>> changed his story about the scs all the time and now I need
    >>>> an MRI becasue my spinal surgeon (not the same person)
    >>>> believes that I have spinal cord damage from the wires. I
    >>>> am now wondering if and how I should go about getting a
    >>>> lawyer, Thank god I found this site and I would tell anyone
    >>>> to think it over very carefully before getting one. I am
    >>>> sure it helps some people (not enough to have it on the
    >>>> market) but at what cost, drugs are far more safer in my
    >>>> opinion.
    >>>>
    >>>>
    >>>> Michele
    >>>
    >>> Michele.
    >>> Could you please let me know your permanent nerve damage.
    >> Also
    >>> did you have the implant out and do you have the original
    >>> implant that they took out? I'll let you know about the legal
    >>> end.
    >>> Thank you for responding,
    >>> Janis

     
     

 
Google
 
Web Counsel.Net
  Site Map: Home Search Legal Jobs Classifieds Law Students Contacts Practice Areas Advertise
  © 1996 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. Please review our Terms of Use, Mission Statement, and Privacy Policy.