When you send your child in for surgery, you want to rest assured that all the products have been tested and approved for use and that the doctors know exactly what they are doing. That is why it is so concerning when a report announces that doctors have been going against protocol. According to Yahoo News nearly one in ten U.S. children who undergo spinal fusion surgery is injected with a bioengineered bone-growth protein that is supposed to help heal them.
Unfortunately, this product has never been approved for use. The off-label use of medical therapies may be legal, but it has still triggered concerns. This is because when a doctor uses an off-label medication or procedure, it means that he or she is taking a risk with a product that has not been properly studied or confirmed to work.
One doctor says that the spinal injections are expensive and they aren’t even proven to be effective. Bone growth proteins are supposed to speed up the bone formation and have been approved by the FDA- but only for use in adults. They have never been permitted for use in pediatric surgeries. Last year, a medical journal determined that doctors who were paid millions by a company called Medtronic Inc. had refused to report serious complications with one of the company’s products.
The complications with the product included a cancer risk, sterility in men, and bone dissolution. This incident proved that men and women can’t always trust their doctor to do the best for them. No one is sure whether or not the bone growth injections will affect a child’s still-growing skeleton in a negative way. If your child is a victim of medical malpractice then you need to contact a personal injury attorney like the lawyers at Shea & Shea today.