Editors:
Desperate for relief after years of excruciating pain, Jim Taft listened intently as his pain management doctor described a medical device that could change his life. It wouldn't cure his underlying problem, Taft and his wife recalled the doctor saying, but a spinal-cord stimulator could cloak his pain, making him "good as new."
It didn't work out that way.
Today, the 45-year-old Taft is virtually paralyzed, a prisoner in his own bed, barely able to get to the bathroom by himself. "They told me it would work," he said. "They told me I would be running. I would have a wonderful life. But look at me."
The story is part of a three-day series produced in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which assembled reporters from around the world to study medical device safety.
Moving for immediate release on Sunday, Nov. 25, at noon ET, BC-US--Implant Files-Pitching Pain reveals how medical device companies and doctors have touted spinal-cord stimulators as a panacea for millions of patients suffering from a wide range of pain disorders and as an answer to America's opioid crisis. But the stimulators — devices that use electrical currents to block pain signals before they reach the brain — are more dangerous than the public knows.
The story is accompanied by BC-US--Implant Files-Legal Hurdles, an explainer on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that creates legal roadblocks for people harmed by medical device implants, BC-US--Implant Files-Companies, a look at the four major companies in the spinal cord stimulator market and their efforts to influence U.S. health policy, and BC-US-Implant Files-The Investigation, a description of how reporters collaborated across borders to explore medical device safety.
On Monday, BC-US--Implant Files-Breast Implants delves into why it appeared as if breast implants were safe and why new questions are being raised. In BC-US--Implant Files-Unique Identifiers, we examine how unique codes could make medical devices safer and explore the delays in implementing that program.
On Tuesday, BC-US--Implant Files-FDA examines how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's push to be "first in the world" in approving new medical devices has prompted some critics to worry that Americans are being used as guinea pigs. Also moving is BC-US--Implant Files-Insulin Pumps, which explains how insulin pumps and their components are responsible for the highest number of malfunctions, injuries and death reports in the FDA's medical device data.
Abridged versions of each day's main stories will be offered. The series is accompanied by photos, graphics and video.
The AP
