Tremendous Public Anxiety for Spinal Cord Implants; Increase of Paralysis Incidents

New data finally came to light regarding the causes and the great number of paralyses to patients who have undergone a spine cord implant surgery. Most of the injuries have arisen after patients’ spinal cords were perforated or squeezed by the stimulator electrodes. Complications with SCS vary from reversible injuries to traumatic partial or permanent paralysis, nerve injury and death. 

According to the FDA’s recent facts and statistics, there was a high rise of paralysis reports in 2013 than the prior years. The paralyzed patients had received spinal cord stimulators by different companies, involving the Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc., and Boston Scientific Corp. 

A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) is a mechanism emits pulsed electrical signals to the spinal cord to mitigate chronic pain. An SCS has significant analgesic properties and is used mostly in the treatment of failed back surgery syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome and refractory pain because of ischemia. Electrodes are implanted in the epidural space and an electrical pulse generator sends electrical pulses to the spinal cord. These pulses intervene in the nerve impulses that make someone feel pain.

The problem has a great deal of roots. Doctors who implant these devices are not properly trained about the whole procedure and they are not aware of the risks of operating near the spinal cord and the methods for alleviating the dangers. In addition, these poorly prepared surgeries are operated by a wide variety of physicians; anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, and orthopedic surgeons. There are no skilled and specialized physicians to spinal cord implants. The companies have undertaken the doctors’ training by placing their representatives, non-physicians, to direct and instruct the real physicians, even during the operations. Companies are aware of the spinal cord stimulator procedures’ risks, but they delude themselves by believing that these implants are simple to operate. However, Mr. Greenwood’s paralysis after a spinal cord implant surgery in Dallas in 2012 and hundreds other paralysis’ events witness the truth regarding the accountability of these damages and the risks of spinal cord implants.