Hip, hip, awry.

Total number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 365

 

In 1993 I had a debate that I could now dust down and repeat in the House of Commons without changing a word.

It would still be relevant. Then it concentrated on the racket in marketing hip prostheses. There were 60 on the market then. One was different to all the others because it was blue. One had been used on thousands of patients and failed them all within four years. Tomorrow the BMJ and Channel 4's Dispatches renew that attack.

Thousands of people face painful and expensive surgery to remove failing medical devices such as metal hip replacements and cardiovascular implants.

They will raise serious concerns about the regulation of medical devices and ask how well these high-risk devices are tested before they come onto the market. They explore a European approval process negotiated by private companies behind closed doors and reveal a worrying lack of public information about the number of devices being used and their potential risks.

There are also links between surgeons paid to design devices and the companies promoting them. These were all my arguments in 1993. Nothing has progressed since then. Many thousands of patients have suffered avoidable pain, distress and unnecessary revision operations.

The Dispatches programme will reveal examples of failing devices that have stayed on the market, despite companies being aware of problems. In the case of articular surface replacement (ASR) metal hip implants, the manufacturer, Depuy, waited until 2010 to take its hip fully off the market, despite repeated warnings from doctors as early as 2007.

Other examples include the case of Chris Pitt, who had a combined pacemaker/defibrillator fitted in his chest, which misfired over thirty times in one day. The makers Medtronic recalled it after reports of five deaths and well over 600 reports of a broken component inside the device. 

Dispatches: The Truth About Going Under the Knife on Monday 16 May at 8pm on Channel 4.

 

Tweeting boost

The number following my tweets has recently passed the 2,000 mark and is increasing daily. The discipline of boiling a point down to 140 characters is good preparation for asking pithy parliamentary oral questions. Below are some tweets in reverse order to the days that they were registered.

I have no plans to follow many others and abandon the blog. It’s still worthwhile.

 

Intelligent drug policies include Portugal depenalisation that cut drug deaths by 50 per cent and legal medicinal natural cannabis.

 

First line of military covenant should read: 'Parliament will not put soldiers in peril by engaging in avoidable wars.'..... Iraq? Helmand?

 

Agriculture crises are invisible, hidden by grab and greed. Nature has been plundered for short-term profits creating legacies of ruin.

 

An independent group confirms 40 years of UK drug policies have failed. No more futile tough policies. It’s time for an intelligent one

 

Why not a cabinet member for manufacturing industry, leisure, commerce? Farming should not be privileged with a cabinet place and subsidies.

 

Science, sense, experience prove that badger culls do NOT reduce BTB. Beautiful defenseless creatures need protection from weak politicians.

 

As farming contributes less than 2% to the Welsh Economy, it would be unfair to have a Cabinet Minster on permanent begging bowl duty.

 

Why do the media suck up to the TaxDodgers Alliance? Their show of weakness today proves their tiny membership and role as a Tory Front.

 

Glimmer of hope. Welsh Government's thinking vegetarian minister John Griffiths is in charge of badger culls not Farmers' Friend Alun Davies

 

Marketing of hip prostheses, pacemakers, stents etc is STILL manipulated for commercial greed, not patient safety - Monday Dispatches CH 4

 

Existence is now negotiable. Welsh Tories are looking for a new Leader to ape David Cameron and 'computer generate' a few more Tory AMs.

 

No Cameron in Commons today to announce 450 troops to be withdrawn from futile war in Afghanistan. Is this burying good news?

 

Mrs. E. Allen who signs letters from Number10 is 'computer generated' and does not 'exist'. How many others employees on job lists do not exist?

 

Pro-nuclear groupie David TC Davies failed to call for new nuke at Portskewett. A Fukushima worry in Gwent would cook his electoral goose.

 

Bravo Lords for dumping stupid plan for crowd-pleasing police commissioners. It’s populist bilge that will lead to poorer policing.

 

 

Comments

[The Archivist]

I find it incredible that you see fit to expose " failing devices that have stayed on the market" yet you refuse to accept that the smoking ban is also one of these. You seem quite happy to be part of a government that resorts to lies, fabrications and junk science to wield dictator like power over the very people that give it £11bn per annum.
You state "There are also links between surgeons paid to design devices and the companies promoting them..."
Exactly the same as what is occuring with government, Big pharma & anti tobacco charities then Paul-pot, kettle, black maybe?
When choice is allowed, that is when you can call yourself a true politician of the people and not a small cog in a mighty dictatorship machine!

[HuwOS]

Wow, new name, same ol' nonsense.

You'll have a friend around about here somewhere, The Archivist, he styles himself Junican, you may know him, after all there only seem to be about 20 people crazy enough to ignore reality and bang on against the ever increasing popularity of the ban on smoking in public places.
He sometimes uses different nicknames but I am sure you'll recognise his style regardless.

Hard really to say that legislation that has the support of 81% of the population and that is only strongly opposed by 1/6th of smokers, is failing.
Especially when that 1/6th or roughly 17% of smokers who strongly oppose the ban on smoking in public places are balanced against the 25% who plan to quit smoking this year or the larger 63% of smokers that they are part of, who say they would like to quit smoking.

So kudos to those psychotics who keep attempting to get others to join them in their delusion that the ban on smoking in public places is somehow unpopular.
Blinkers on, earplugs in, wail and moan as loud as you can.
You can imagine you're nobly fighting against some kind of exceptionally benign tyranny instead of simply making fools of yourselves and confusing children.

[patrick]

I've read a lot of what the tiny minority of smokers say.

Heres a link that might be of interest.

http://www.pointlesssites.com/hypnotic.asp

[The Archivist]

Unfortunately the reality is that you, nor any government will ever stop people smoking as it is their choice to smoke or not smoke Paul. Your 81% of population supporting the ban is an absurdity extracrted from YouGov's Peter Kellner who is seriously anti tobacco and if 25% of smokers plan to quit this year, then why haven't they already?
If 63% say they would LIKE to quit, why haven't they done so? Ridiculous figures plucked from ASH-Planet yet again to make the dictatorship look ever more powerful. Tell me Paul, just what is government going to do if all smoking is eradicated, to replace the £11bn per annum those who smoke happily donate to the government coffers?

[HuwOS]

"Unfortunately the reality is that you, nor any government will ever stop people smoking as it is their choice to smoke or not smoke "
- While they are encouraging people to stop smoking, they are not planning on forcing anyone to stop smoking.

"Your 81% of population supporting the ban is an absurdity extracrted from YouGov's Peter Kellner who is seriously anti tobacco"
Okay, I think we can all see what you are doing here, you don't like the results of a survey, so you cover your ears and sing LALALA as loud as you can.

"and if 25% of smokers plan to quit this year, then why haven't they already?"
- For those of you who haven't been paying attention, it's an addiction.

"If 63% say they would LIKE to quit, why haven't they done so? "
- Again, it's an addiction, a hell of a lot easier to start than to stop.

"Tell me Paul, just what is government going to do if all smoking is eradicated"
Paul will of course answer for himself if he can work up the energy to deal facts with people who prefer to just make things up as they go along, but the answer will quite possibly contain things like
1) No one is expecting smoking to be eradicated
2) If magically it was eradicated, the loss of 10.5-11 billion pounds would be at least partially mitigated by the 5bn the NHS would not have to spend on dealing with the results and with better health for that 20% there would presumably be benefits in working days not lost and taxes collected, incapacity benefit not having to be paid.
Even without the massive knock on benefits, what price is it you think should be put on the lives of citizen's by government.
If I pay the government £1bn should I be allowed to kill x number of people?
If you think so, you should contact the tax payer's alliance as that is a way to cut the debt that I am sure they would be keen on. If you would allow it to be done on horseback with hounds you might be able to get some countryside alliance tories that the tpa somehow missed to come on board

3) Number 1 is actually the answer.

[D.G.]

"I find it incredible that you see fit to expose " failing devices that have stayed on the market" yet you refuse to accept that the smoking ban is also one of these."

The day I'm offered a smoking ban instead of a hip prosthetic, I'm going private.