A patient recently had to undergo an orthopedic surgery. He had fractured his humerus and the surgeon had implanted a plate to help this him heal. Unfortunately, the implant broke within three days of the surgery. As a result of which he required a repeated surgery and this caused his radial nerve to get damaged. He was obviously unhappy and miserable and wasn't sure why an implant made of stainless steel manufactured by a reputed company had broken in 3 days. The answer his surgeon gave him was- This was an " implant failure" which could be due to a manufacturing defect. He wasn't convinced with this answer and asked me for help.
He was sent to senior orthopedic surgeon, whom I respect very much, for a second opinion. He asked him- What went wrong? Was it a problem with the implant? Was the material defective? Was it an infection? Was there a surgical problem? Was the job not…
