Billion Dollar Spinal Fusion Surgery Scam Exposed in USA — Scope | Disability forum
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Billion Dollar Spinal Fusion Surgery Scam Exposed in USA

dowhatyoucant
dowhatyoucant Community member Posts: 13 Courageous
This story spends more time discussing the unapproved medical hardware that is being used by some hospitals to cut corners and save money, but the most important part of this story for people with back pain is the fact that both doctors and other "middle men" have been getting paid to send patients to the operating table for spinal fusion surgeries which, as the story mentions, are "sometimes" unnecessary. 

Here is the story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whistleblowers-expose-billion-dollar-back-surgery-scam/

Based on my personal experience of being recommended to undergo a discectomy and spinal fusion by 2 surgeons, refusing to do so, and discovering that most (yes, most) back pain can be remedied through body awareness, posture and activity changes, I believe it's significantly more than "sometimes" that these surgeries are unnecessary. I would say most are not necessary. Reason being is the body is capable of healing itself, including conditions like spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, even disc herniations have been shown to improve and become asymptomatic with consistent and proper mobilization of formerly dysfunctional joints. 

I am so thankful that I refused to do the fusion surgery because there is no coming back from it, and I've been able to return to normal activity by simply changing my activity and my posture. Every day you spend with poor posture and activity, your body degrades, but every day you spend with the skeleton in proper alignment and the muscles adequately activated to do their job of supporting the skeleton, almost like magic the body is able to heal and become stronger.

My hope is that at least one person considering this surgery will think more critically about their options and possibly save themselves from making a permanent, giant mistake.

Ben
Ben C.
CSCS/CPT/SNS

Comments

  • dowhatyoucant
    dowhatyoucant Community member Posts: 13 Courageous
    Sorry for the duplicate post everyone, the site timed out every time I submitted the post so I tried it several more times and even though it timed out every time, viewing the forum page showed that each of them posted somehow.
    Ben C.
    CSCS/CPT/SNS
  • GettinOlde
    GettinOlde Community member Posts: 495 Pioneering
    edited June 2019
    Sorry for the duplicate post everyone, the site timed out every time I submitted the post so I tried it several more times and even though it timed out every time, viewing the forum page showed that each of them posted somehow.

    TopTip: Use an offline editor to compose your text then copy-paste into the message field editing as necessary
    Also, you can periodically use the 'Save Draft' button - good luck. B)

    P.S. Where to find saved drafts is anyone's guess.  >:)
    Resident joker - not to be taken too seriously ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • GettinOlde
    GettinOlde Community member Posts: 495 Pioneering
    Ah, in the right-hand column - on pc/laptop that is - mobile devices YMMV

    Resident joker - not to be taken too seriously ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • dowhatyoucant
    dowhatyoucant Community member Posts: 13 Courageous
    @GettinOlde I know I tried both of those, and using the preview option, but got a timed out message on a frozen page as if nothing happened. Had to keep refreshing the page, pasting, trying again, but apparently it was working just for everyone else and not me lol
    Ben C.
    CSCS/CPT/SNS
  • Adrian_Scope
    Adrian_Scope Posts: 10,821 Scope online community team
    Hi @dowhatyoucant,
    Unfortunately the duplicate post issue is a known bug. I find if you let the post load up the inevitable error message, it posts successfully. Failing that, after posting I simply load a different page and it has the same effect.

    Hope that helps,
    Adrian
    Community Manager
    Scope
  • GettinOlde
    GettinOlde Community member Posts: 495 Pioneering
    edited June 2019
    @Adrian_Scope Could swear I posted a comment regarding a possible problem with system time / internet time being out of sync. Did it get removed or am I going daft?

    On another note I couldn't access the community pages earlier > Twitter post to Scope

    Resident joker - not to be taken too seriously ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • Adrian_Scope
    Adrian_Scope Posts: 10,821 Scope online community team
    I haven't seen a post from you about that and can't find any history of it either. Could it have timed out when you were posting?
    Sorry you were unable to access the community earlier. If you ever have problems you can let us know by email at community@scope.org.uk
    Community Manager
    Scope
  • GettinOlde
    GettinOlde Community member Posts: 495 Pioneering
    Maybe I didn't hit the post reply button before closing the browser - oh well
    Resident joker - not to be taken too seriously ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • GettinOlde
    GettinOlde Community member Posts: 495 Pioneering
    @Adrian_Scope Had a 'Gateway timeout' error posting this > https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/60982/had-cab-appeal-initiation-appointment-today

    Possibly because of the attached image
    Resident joker - not to be taken too seriously ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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