There’s no doubt that surgically implanted medical devices can improve lives.
Hip and knee replacements can help people regain their mobility. Drug pumps can deliver doses of pain-relieving medicine on demand. And metal rods can stabilize spines and broken bones.
But implanted devices can also do serious damage, as happened to Mechel Keel, who lives in Owosso, Mich.
To fix her leaky bladder, an OB-GYN stitched a flexible mesh strap inside her pelvis in 2004. But within months, the mesh hardened and started cutting her insides.