Of course you are responsible for any prosthesis that you modify, whether it
is of your own making, or others. This is no different than changing
(bending, drilling, sanding, whatever) components from a components
manufacturerer. Once this is done, you are on the hook and the manufacturer
or previous professional will likely be able to “wiggle” out from under any
legal liability and responsibility. My guess is that even though you
document that the insurance company “requires” you to make a single
component replacement, if something goes wrong you will still be
responsible. A jury will likely determine that “you” (the expert in your
field – not the insurance company) should have known better than to replace
only a socket, when other changes were indicated or unkown. Having survived
a ridiculous $20,000,000.00 wrongful death lawsuit, I believe I have more
than a token experience with such a matter.
What would be required to protect you for such a matter would be a waiver of
legal liability and I doubt that such a document exists or is enforceable.
If it is, the WORLD needs to know about it.
In reality, the insurance companies should be legally at risk when they ask
or insist that a prosthetist provide a specific service for a device they
know little or nothing about.
However, until consumers realize that there is no such thing as a free
lunch, HMOs, and other similar health care systems will prosper at the
expense of the consumer and health care professional.
—–Original Message—–
From: [email protected]
Date: Friday, March 26, 1999 9:12 PM
Subject: Used prosthetic components
>I have had several request from one of the HMO’s that we do
>business with to do a socket replacement rather than do a complete
>prosthesis AK or BK. Most of the request have been for endoskeletal
systems.
>I guess my question is!
>Is it unlawful to do this?
>Is there a law that states that this unlawful?
>I assume that the warranty for the on the components would be null and
void.
>Is there any written information or confirmation on such a law.
>If I replace the socket am I responsible for the liability of the used
>components?
>
> Happy Trails Bill Lewis C.P.
>
