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National Accident Helpline urges medical implant pain sufferers to seek advice
25th May 2011
National Accident Helpline is urging patients
who have had faulty medical implants to heed the recent Channel 4
Dispatches programme that some products may be defective.
The programme 'The Truth About Going Under The Knife' contained
examples of a pacemaker that misfired more than 30 times in one
day, artificial hips that released metal ions into patients' blood,
and leaking cochlear implants.
Beth Powell, consumer director of National Accident Helpline,
said: "Hip replacements, pacemakers and cochlear implants are
significant procedures involving a degree of clinical risk. It is
unfortunate that people who have been given a new lease of life by
medical implants such as these are now potentially facing
additional corrective surgery.
"Problems caused by injuries and subsequent surgery can mean
people are unable to work and must take time off to recover,
causing them to lose money and possibly incur expenses for medical
help and other care."
More than 15,000 people have contacted National Accident Helpline
in the past five years with problems arising from clinical or
medical procedures.
In 2009 the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency,
responsible for monitoring medical equipment, received more than
9,000 reports of adverse incidents involving medical implants -
1,885 of which involved serious injury and 202 resulted in
death.
National Accident Helpline is the leading marketing group for
solicitors specialising in personal injury and is responsible for
the campaign championing consumers' rights to access justice
through the website www.underdog.co.uk.
ENDS
For media enquiries please contact:
Matthew Rosser, National Accident
Helpline:
matthew.rosser@nahl.co.uk, Tel. 01536 527500/07834 518603
About National Accident Helpline
National Accident Helpline is the leading marketing and legal services company for solicitors who specialise in Personal Injury law and represents more than 100 legal practices across the UK. If a consumer has had an accident which was someone else's fault then we will put them in touch with a member firm, so they can seek redress for the personal injury they have suffered. Through our national solicitor network, we champion consumer rights for people who have had accidents, helping those with genuine claims to seek redress and gain access to justice to help aid their recovery.
National Accident Helpline is authorised by the Ministry of Justice in respect of regulated claims management activities and is a registered company, incorporated in the UK. For more information please visit the website: www.underdog.co.uk.