The recent article in the Post-Gazette “A Hard Path to Walk: Startup Firm Wants to Bring Prosthetic Limbs Into the 21st Century†really drove home a point about the misunderstanding about our field (and perhaps how the media doesn’t always research an article as closely as they should). Thank you to Eilen Levis for the thoughtful, well written response. In the end, she recomends that journalists can contact one of our national organizations (ABC, AOPA, NAAOP). This is a great idea.
I think one of (or several) the national organziations needs to develop a media packet that can be provided to news outlets. It could included an outline of our field, our education requirements, what actually goes into providing a device to the patient. It should also include realistic price ranges for prosthetics devices.
I’m thinking about this now because of a recent article about a man in Houston who contracted bacterial infection necessitating amputation. The article states that “a high end device can cost as much as $5000â€. The hyperlink on this statement takes the reader to the Dupont website and a blurb about the Niagara foot. That site states a high end foot can cost as much as $5000. Seems like the reported did a web search and quickly skimmed this page (and leaves me wondering about reading comprehension) and came up with that ‘fact’.
While providing a clearing house of accurate information may not stop every errouneus article, it should help.
Todd Sleeman, CP
