Mark Hirschbeck was a well-known umpire in major league baseball when, in 2003, he began to suffer intense hip pain that required a hip replacement operation. Dr. John Keggi, an orthopaedic surgeon, offered Hirschbeck a ceramic hip joint made by Wright Medical Group that would enable him to return to his profession by the following season.
Unfortunately, the ceramic joint shattered. Another joint was implanted, but an infection developed. Dr. Keggi removed the infected tissue, but the pain persisted, so Hirschbeck sought another medical opinion. Eventually, he had four more surgeries performed by Dr. Charles Cornell with a non-ceramic hip implanted. Hirschbeck is presently disabled to the point where he can no longer return to umpiring.
Hirschbeck sued Dr. Keggi and Wright Medical Group. As it turned out, Wright Medical had given grants in the tens of thousands of dollars to the Keggi Orthopaedic Foundation, where he is the director of research and his uncle is president. Dr. Keggi also testified at his deposition that he and his wife had attended a Wright Medical conference in the Bahamas. Furthermore, a Wright Medical salesperson was often in the operating room when the ceramic hip was being implanted, ostensibly to give instructions, although the salesperson had no medical training. Dr. Keggi is presently under investigation by the Justice Department and Wright Medical reportedly may have to settle the case for $8 million.
Payments to physicians by medical or drug companies to introduce them to their products or to serve as paid consultants is commonplace. The companies defend their payments as legitimate consulting agreements and that advances in the design of orthopaedic and other medical devices and equipment would not be possible without advice from physicians.
The use of a company's medical device by a treating physician may not always be in the patient's best interests. In Hirschbeck's case, Dr. Keggi chose the Wright Medical device over other types of implants in 97 percent of hip replacements. A physician's integrity can be compromised whenever a choice has to be made over which drug or device to use, especially when the decision is unduly influenced by the medical or drug company essentially paying the physician to use its product, regardless of its proven efficacy.
Hirschbeck is now an advocate for the passage of the Medical Device Safety Act to hold manufacturers liable for injury from defects in their products.
