More Joint Replacements Needed, Fewer Surgeons Available

At the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in Las Vegas, two recent studies were revealed that both found that more patients will be waiting for knee and hip replacement surgeries in the near future. One study, led by Dr. Thomas K. Fehring, an orthopaedic surgeon with OrthoCarolina in Charlotte, North Carolina, found that in the year 2016, surgery will be unavailable to almost 750,000 patients (72 percent) requiring knee replacements and almost 200,000 patients (46 percent) requiring hip replacements. This is because the number of orthopaedic surgeons retiring from the field is greater than the number of new doctors coming into the field, which means that the number of doctors able to perform these joint replacement surgeries will continue to fall unless something changes. One main reason why young doctors are choosing not to go into the arthroplasty field is low insurance reimbursements, which have decreased by 60 percent since 1990. This means that these surgeons receive less money from the companies insuring joint replacement patients, making young doctors more apt to choose a more lucrative field. Fehring noted that if this trend continues, many joint replacement patients will have to wait one to two years for their surgery.

The second study presented at the meeting was conducted by Steven M. Kurtz, vice president of Philadelphia-based engineering and scientific consulting firm Exponent Inc., along with colleagues. This study found that an increase in younger patients requiring joint replacement surgery is the cause of the recent increase in demand for these types of surgery. Kurtz and his colleagues found that patients under age 65 will make up more than half of hip replacement patients by 2011 and more than half of knee replacement patients by 2016. The team also found that more and more patients between ages 45 and 54 are in need of knee replacement, with 59,077 people in this age range having had knee replacement surgery in 2006. This increase is most likely due to the high success rates of these surgeries and the fact that more people are getting active, which causes joints to deteriorate. Another reason for the increase in knee replacement surgeries in this younger age range is obesity, which can cause arthritis in the knees and other areas. The study found that by 2030, the number of people between ages 45 and 54 that require knee replacement surgery will soar to almost 1 million, an increase of 17 times the number recorded in 2006. With more knee and hip replacement surgeries being performed on younger patients, the chance these patients will require a revision procedure also increases, since the average joint replacement lasts about 20 years. This means that even more surgeons will be needed in the future to perform procedures to replace the replacements patients received when in their 40s and 50s, making it even more necessary for new doctors to enter this field.

When a doctor is careful and has experience performing a procedure, most surgeries do not have major complications. However, if a doctor is negligent or makes a mistake that results in serious injury or death, that doctor may be held responsible for the injuries incurred. If you or a loved one was injured by surgical malpractice in New York City or Long Island, please call or e-mail us today for a free consultation with our experienced surgical malpractice attorneys. Our firm serves clients with Bronx surgical malpractice, Brooklyn surgical malpractice, Queens surgical malpractice, Nassau surgical malpractice and Suffolk surgical malpractice cases.

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