knee operation...has it gone wrong?

building

my partner's dad had a first knee replacement operation a year ago. unfortunately at the same time he also got a prostate problem but the knee was operated before they did anythign about this - he managed to exercise his leg but only about 1 month into it . anyway his knee has been very painful and still a year later he is not able to walk properly and every so often he gets terrible pains. he even sits at home with his leg on a chair with additional cushions.
nurses and doctors have looked at it since and tried to manipulate it . i believe he has also had a second operation and this still has not worked. he is now looking at third.
he has had a new x-ray done on the knee before it and my partner though not medically qualified but has worked with x-ray machiens in other ways believe he can see that they have not properly connected his knee.
the problem with it is that his wife looks after him and they have not been able to go away because he is often in pain and tired. his partner has had no compensation (her pension is over the carer's allowance so cannot claim).
questions: 1) are there any sorts of compensation? (he does get disability allowance or whatever it is called at 65) 2) should he get a second opinion from another doctor ?(a lot of people seem to worry about asking an opinion from other doctors).
3) they also have HSA medical insurance and i have told them they coudl try to call them for advice but not sure they believe me or want to risk losing their next space for an operation etc. Or risk having problems with their current surgeon.
4) are there any sites where you can check up on a doctor's rate of success etc. i know that there is a medical book doctor foster collection which gives a bit of info on medical stuff but anything else? the copy i have is also very old.
any tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

greytroot

This is not an answer to your problem but I had a knee operation in 1990 and had terrible pain for 10 years and was told by all specialist that, that is what to be expected. While working in holland i went to a doctor for an unrelated problem and happened to mention my "sore" knee. That was on a Tuesday, on Thursday I saw a specialist and on Monday I had an operation. Since then I have had no pain whatsoever in my knee. They basically used key hole surgery and "cleaned" my knee joints and cartlidge. I used a walking stick for 3 weeks and then I was back to normal.

building

will pass on info!

greytroot wrote:

This is not an answer to your problem but I had a knee operation in 1990 and had terrible pain for 10 years and was told by all specialist that, that is what to be expected. While working in holland i went to a doctor for an unrelated problem and happened to mention my "sore" knee. That was on a Tuesday, on Thursday I saw a specialist and on Monday I had an operation. Since then I have had no pain whatsoever in my knee. They basically used key hole surgery and "cleaned" my knee joints and cartlidge. I used a walking stick for 3 weeks and then I was back to normal.

Mr_Pink_3

It is my opinion that if a patient has any doubts whatsoever about their surgeon they should get a second opinion from another specialist consultant. I have never known a surgeon be offended by a patient seeking further advice from a different consultant.

There may not be the need to immediately tell the current consultant you are going elsewhere for a further opinion, as it will be no problem getting a two or three line referral from the patient’s GP. It will of course help if one can take (ideally recent) X-Ray/MR/CT films to the initial consultation with the new surgeon.

Dr Foster (https://www.drfoster.co.uk) and similar sources only give basic information such as qualifications, year of qualification, NHS awards and waiting lists. It is impossible to form an idea of a surgeon’s clinical skills based on this information. In my experience the best way of selecting a different consultant would be by reccomendation.

Peace of mind is priceless.

katiepops_2

I'm sorry, but if your boyfriend has no medical qualifications then I fail to see how he thinks that he could spot that the knee hasn't been 'connected' properly - if that was the case then it would have been picked up by the radiologist reporting the x-ray or any one of the number of medics who have undoubtedly seen the films too.

Unfortunately it's a fact of life that surgeons cannot perform miracles, and every procedure has risks and benefits. The risks usually include the fact that surgery may not actually improve the symptoms, and this would and should have been explained before surgery.

By all means seek a second opinion, but I think that rather than going to the GP and asking to be referred elsewhere, you should ring the secretary of the Consultant he is under now. Tell her how worried you are about him and how you hate to see him in so much pain, and say that because he really isn't sure why things don't seem to have gone to plan you are ringing on his behalf to ask for an appointment with the Consultant so that everything can be explained in detail - ie, why he's in so much pain, why things don't seem to have gone the way everyone hoped etc etc etc. Obviously he needs to give informed consent to any further surgery, and so he needs to be told what has happened up to now, and what surgical procedure the medics are planning now, and what the aim of the procedure is (ie if it's just to get rid of the pain or to cure the stiffness etc). When everything has been explained then obviously you'll have a clearer picture of what is happening and why; and then if you're not happy, you can ask the Consultant if he could refer him to one of his colleagues for a second opinion (it's quicker than going through the GP) - you will find that most Consultants specialise in just one or two areas of their particular field, so it might be that your boyfriend's Dad can be referred to someone who has a lot of experience in post-op pain and stiffness.

Good luck!

Kate