The Real Cost of Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacement Revision: Time

Bonham, TXThe trouble with surgery is that your life comes to a stop for the process. The actual procedure, combined with healing can take weeks or months, during which time an individual may be off work or unavailable for important events. In sum, surgery such as Zimmer Knee Replacement, can be a huge interruption to one's life.

Imagine if you have to repeat the process as early as seven months later.

To most, reading about 'revision surgery' is little more than a headline, or a statistic. But having to disrupt your life a second time for weeks on end is hardly akin to returning the car to the mechanic to report "the rattle is still there…"

Little wonder that Laquetta Dukes has filed a NexGen lawsuit against the manufacturers of a knee replacement that, for her, went horribly wrong.

As originally chronicled in the Southeast Texas Record (2/6/12), Dukes went under the knife for a Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacement procedure on July 14th, 2009. She received the Zimmer NexGen total knee replacement system, including the Zimmer NexGen LPS-Flex Gender Solutions femoral component. Blocking out the time necessary for consultation appointments, the actual surgery followed by recovery is never easy in this day and age—even for seniors, who are working longer before retiring and are far more active than retirees of a generation ago.

However, given the expectation of up to 15 years of trouble-free operation for Zimmer knee implants, setting aside several weeks for limited mobility is considered an investment for improved mobility over the long term.

Imagine the patient's dismay when Zimmer knee replacement problems began to surface soon after surgery. In Dukes' case the artificial knee began to loosen, resulting in pain from the wearing away of the bone at the point where bone is attached to the artificial knee.

Dukes had the troublesome Zimmer knee implant replaced on February 4th, 2010. To most, it's just a date in a headline. But to Dukes—or any patient experiencing problems with NexGen CR-Flex—the date represents real time required to be set aside for yet another surgery, followed by another block of weeks required for healing.

Taken together, the time needed for the initial surgery and healing would have been immediately followed by the emergence of issues with the new Zimmer NexGen knee, further limiting mobility never effectively recaptured by the new knee implant. Add in the revision surgery which occurred less than seven months following the initial procedure together with a second round of healing—and suddenly the patient has lost almost a year's worth of mobility.

Such a loss can have devastating effects on someone's job and career, one's capacity to earn a living, or care for a family.

Dukes launched a NexGen lawsuit against Zimmer earlier this year, alleging the Zimmer NexGen knee she received was defective. Dukes also accuses Zimmer as having foreknowledge the device can loosen in patients. Given the potential impact on a patient's life and livelihood when revision surgery is required so soon after the initial procedure, legal action to pursue compensation is warranted.