AOK disc scandal hits half of Europe

British company delivered defective prostheses for years
At Klinikum Leer apparently 48 patients with defective disc prostheses have been implanted. Now, the AOK warns that more cases could follow and threaten a Europe-wide scandal. According to a report of the "NDR", the British manufacturer Ranier Technology Ltd. According to the health insurance. to issue the delivery lists of the past years. The now insolvent company had delivered the defective prostheses for years, 20 patients had to be operated on again.
Danger of a "migration" of the prosthesis
From the end of 2010 to the beginning of 2014, apparently 48 patients at the Klinikum Leer received a defective intervertebral disc prosthesis, which, according to the manufacturer, did not bring the "expected performance". Instead, it would come in almost 18 percent of cases to a "migration" of the prosthesis, which a re-operation of patients will be necessary, the hospital in a press release. Accordingly, the company Ranier "in February and April 2014, an urgent safety notice for the" Cadisc-L "-panel prosthesis published," but the hospital was not dutifully until the second quarter of 2015, "said the clinic.

The scandal of inferior disc prostheses could pull Europe-wide circles. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

11,000 transplanted disc prostheses from the British manufacturer
But the faulty prostheses apparently do not just affect empty space. Instead, go to the Commercial Health Insurance in Hanover, according to the hospital from the assumption that a total of more than 11,000 disc prostheses of the affected company were used in patients. The scandal could possibly expand in the opinion of the AOK even Europe-wide. As the "NDR" reports, the health insurance company has therefore already written to the British manufacturer Ranier and requested the delivery lists of the past years in order to be able to estimate how many patients are actually affected.

For apparently Ranier had delivered over years of defective implants to clinics across Europe, but now the company filed for bankruptcy last week, said the NDR, citing the "Ostfriesen newspaper". Already 20 patients had to undergo a new operation in Leer due to a slipped prosthesis - but also the other affected patients should now undergo a check-up at the hospital.

Warnings about own products since 2010
According to this, the hospital had written to more than 100 patients who had received a prosthesis from the company and asked them to undergo a medical check every six months. Already after-operated patients had already turned with pain relief claims to their health insurance, reports the NDR on. Unterstürzung receive some of the victims thereby of the Leeraner lawyer Burkhardt Remmers, which examines beside the complaints against the manufacturer also against the clinical center empty. Because Ranier had evidently already since 2010 warnings regarding own products expressed, the recall however only in the beginning of 2014 started.

"We recommend our patients to contact their health insurance companies, who were informed about the procedure at the same time as the patients. Of course, patients who are insecure, also like to contact us, "said Holger Glienke, Managing Director of Klinikum Leer. (No)