New New York Times Article

[brightside]

I am a newbie here and have found this site as a result of hip arthritis.  I am 55 years old.  I have found this site very informative.  Some of the members on here may have already found this.  I know there have been other New York Times articles that have at times been skewed.  A physician named Dr. Judith Walsh from UC San Francisco is not endorsing hip resurfacing  ..."an influential group has found that there is insufficient evidence to show that an alternative technique known as hip resurfacing is as safe and effective as a traditional replacement..."  Evidently Blue Shields has a California Technology Assessment Forum that Dr. Walsh is involved in.  This particular doctor is not a surgeon but an internist.  She claims to have a speciality in women's health and prevention.

Although I am a newbie the article was not fully informative.  There seemed to be alot of key areas missing.  Any thoughts would be interesting.  If you just goggle Dr. Judith Walsh and hip resurfacing you can find it.  Fortunately Blue Shields is not dropping it but I worry about this particular article.  I am also surprised that this Doctor could come up with such justification when she is not an orthopedist ( although not entirely necessary I admit)  Her bio seems to be more interested in hormonal fluctuations and heart disease as well as diet.

[Pat Walter]

There have been a lot of articles in the NY times.  Most are very biased and contain partial truths.  If you would like to hear responses to these negative articles please listen to the following: 


http://www.surfacehippy.info/doctorinterviews/mcminninterview.php
McMinn responds

All of my current doctor interviews include their thoughts about the negative press from NY times and other media

http://www.surfacehippy.info/shvideos/videosdoctor.php

The group has talked about these articles before.  You can search to find some of the conversations.   The patients, however,  really don’t have the experience or education to address the negative, incorrect press as the surgeons above do.  I think you will find the above videos very informative. We as patients all have opinons, but it is best to rely on doctor information and national registry information.

http://www.surfacehippy.info/nationalregistries.php

Pat

[brightside]

Thanks for the reply.  I checked on the particular author of this latest article and he seems to generate alot of negative posts.  The full story did not seem to be told.  This particular article just came out .  Any contributors here might want to post a comment to the NY times article if they can.

[brightside]

In response please look above at the posted sites to get a full review of what is important (Pat Walter)

Other concerns I have about this article
1)  Dr. Judith Walsh:  the "findings" were FINANCED by Blue Shield of California, this makes it biased.  Also Dr. Judith Walsh is an MD, however, I cannot see any experience with orthopedics or surgery within her bio.  To make herself more credible she should have training in orthopedics as well, not just preventive medicine and epidemiology.
2)  It is false that there have not been studies comparing THR with hip resurfacing.  See Primary Ceramic-Ceramic THR vs Metal Metal Hip Resurfacing in Active Young Patients as a start--there maybe many more.
3)  The ASR has resulted in a multitude of problems and is not being adequetely highlighted.  Instead the author lumps everything together.
4)  The author (Dr. Walsh)  provides no positives and fails to address that all implants of any kind whether metal or not have issues--is she therefore against patients not receiving treatment??  What are her alternatives?  Should the patient just fall?  Not be able to perform activities of daily living?  Nothing was addressed.

[newdog]

I am also surprised that this Doctor could come up with such justification when she is not an orthopedist

brightside,

That's just it. You said it right there.

[Tin Soldier]

Just to add something regarding insurance.  Providence, which I presume is similar to Blue Cross or Blue Shield will tell you that HR is of "questionable medical value".  Recently there has been increased co-pays, for HR by my insurance provider.  I don't where they get their data, but maybe the definition of 98% in 14 years (McMinn) is not medically valuable?  I've asked my insurance for supporting documentation/study that shows that HR is of questionable medical value.  They haven't been able to produce anything.  They just tell me to discuss with my primary.  Right, as if he knows anything about HR.  It's all part of the machine.

[newdog]

It's all part of the machine.

tin,
You are so right. That's what worries me about the negative BS that's been reported lately. As I  have said before, why aren't they talking to the docs that know all about HR?

[obxpelican]

You want to know why they do not talk to the really experienced doctors?  Bad stuff sells soap.  If the truth was really known about hip resurfacing the NYT would not sell their soap.  This is all about money and greedy attorneys. 

In most all cases, if you have high levels it usually points back to a misaligned device causing edge loading.

If the NYT newspaper would interview some of the really experienced hip surgeons I might care about what they are saying but then I always remember Jayson Blair.  The NYT is just not the bastion of quality journalism like other papers.


Chuck

It's all part of the machine.

tin,
You are so right. That's what worries me about the negative BS that's been reported lately. As I  have said before, why aren't they talking to the docs that know all about HR?

[Boomer]

Chuck,

I agree with you to a degree. However, I think some of the heavyweights in the resurfacing business have a responsibility to provide rebuttals if they think Jayson Blair is providing misleading,sensational information just to sell papers. I would be interested to know if anyone from the HSS in New York made any effort to respond to these articles.  Surgeons who have built a business around this procedure could really make a difference if they made a concerted effort to at least moderate Jayson Blair. This guy may be driving people away from resurfacing when they would benefit from it.

Perhaps Pat or Vicki can tell us if any of the heavyweights in resurfacing pay any attention to Jayson Blair.

[Pat Walter]

It is impossible to comment on these negative articles.  Many happy hip resurfacing patients in the past have tried to post comments on the newspaper articles. Vicky and I have even tried to get some of the surgeons to reply.  It did no good.  If you want to talk about censorship - these papers have an agenda.  They have decided they are against hip resurfacing and that will be the facts they present.  They are not fair and balanced.  Any one that thinks the media in any form is fair and balanced is living in a imaginary world. Those in power would be happy to remove websites like mine.  Listen to the media and the rules they would like to propose to control the internet. We are slowly loosing our freedom.  All of the negative press shows how the media can control not only hip resurfacing, but many other subjects that are near and dear to all of us.  It will be a tough uphill climb to try to keep anything positive about hip resurfacing available to the public.  That is why it is so important that we all share our stories and tell friends and other people about how great our hip resurfacings are.  Vicky, myself and the top surgeons have been involved with hip resurfacing for quite a few years and know how diffiuclt it is to get the word out about what a great surgery it is for the proper candidates.

Read the national registries and talk with other patients to learn how sucessful hip resurfacing is.  Tell your story if you are a hip resurfacing patient.

Pat

[obxpelican]

Boomer,

LOL.... google Jayson Blair.

And I do agree with you, some of the heavy weights need to step up, but as Pat said, the NYT would have to agree to listen.  Again, no soap.

Chuck

[Boomer]

Pat,

Agree with you that there is no balance in the media. Blair deals with sensational negative stories to sell news papers. He sees no reason to mention the successes. I have no idea why. People regaining their active lives would seem to be a good read.

The Birmingham Hip website contains 93 positive testimonials, with no mention of any negative stories. That's marketing.

These days you have to be your own advocate and do your own research.

Sad state of affairs. But, as you said, if you really dig for information, you can eventually get close to the truth. I think.

I'm glad you and Vicki have tried to counter this fellow Blair. I expected you had, which is why I mentioned you both in my post.

Thank you for responding. I enjoy being part of this website.

Boomer

[Boomer]

Pat,

Will you be attending the Ortho show in San Francisco in February?

Boomer

[curt]

As with any procedure, there will always be negative press, and sadly, there will probably also be some level of negative outcomes.  Resurfacing is no different.  Some patients are excluded for various limitations; some surgeons don't get the placement of the components exactly right; and some patients (with mindsets like my over-reaching and over-doing compulsions) sabotage their recovery or new joint. 
My point is that no matter how great the operation CAN be, there is always room for improvement.  I chose Dr. Gross primarily because he acknowledges that there are problems that can lead to a revision.  He believes that rather than abandon the procedure, find the causes and eliminate or mitigate them.  That was the guy I wanted to work on my hip.  Always looking for a better mechanism, better materials, better techniques, better recovery etc. 
I was lucky to need my hip fixed after this procedure had been established and improved.  The field will only get better with more time and experience by more surgeons.  Curt

[Pat Walter]

Boomer

I would love to go to the AAOS, but it is really, really expensive.  Just the cost of attending was $850 last year. Each special presentation you want to listen to also costs extra money.   Add to that the airfare from Ohio and hotel with a bit of food, it is way beyond anything I can afford.  I am 67 and live on my social security and a little extra from the ads on the website. Most of the ad money goes to hosting 2 websites, one for the basic website and one for streaming videos, keeping my software and hardware up to date.  I have a lot of special software for editing videos, websites, sitemaps, graphics, etc. etc.  It takes a lot of money to maintain and grow the website, so there is little left for traveling to that type of meeting.

Pat