FDA sues Advanced Bionics Cochlear Implant maker for 2.2 million in fines for manufac

MomToDeafChild said:
FYI...

Straight from my daughter's $17,053 surgeon's bill for her implant in June, $14,554 was billed for 'surgery' and $2,499 was billed for 'lab pathology'. Of the $17,053 bill that came out of the surgeon's office, our insurance paid $2,219.

There's not exactly a ton of money to be had by doing implants. After paying the staff in the doctor's office and all the overhead, what's actually left for the doctor? It's ridiculous to think he doesn't even get $2,000 for something that requires such skill...
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And surgeons are well aware that they will not receive full payment from the majority of insurance companies or Medicare and Medicaid. That is one of the reasons that they set costs so high. They are paid on a percentage basis of actual fee. Likewise, those that opt for CI and pay for it out of pocket make up the differential in paying higher costs.
 
Boult, If you want to call it "jumping to a conclusion'.. At least I made an intelligent conclusion BEFORE I went under the knife for my CI.. And as I stated before, my wifey was concerned about what goes in her hubby's head. She want to rest assured that it wont break down in the next 20 plus years. Advanced Bionics really have not come out with a satisfactory response to this date ...
 
I await for someone who able to create the artificial inner ear with stem cell. It would be one of da advance ever create.
 
As of today, still NO satisfactory response from Advanced Bionics over the pending FDA fine. Talk about slow .. hmmmmm...

Makes me even more relieved I chosed the MedEl Opus2 with the nifty remote..

And I am not dead nor had any seriouos health issues frome the surgery nor the CI processor. Oh well on the CI will kill you naysayers..

Smile
 
I'm very interested in the CI myself. However, like many others, I'm waiting for technology to improve. I worry that getting one now will only result in it being outdated in a short time. The same idea as computers or cell phones. But more so, I worry about the health risks -- the surgery itself (there is always a risk with surgery, no matter how insignificant the surgery is), side effects (I have read about too many people talking about vertigo, etc.) I have been very interested in reading everyone's feedback about this as it is something I would like to consider someday. Parents -- for you that have done this for your child, have you noticed any side effects after surgery?
 
I had minimal side effects after surgery - the main one was loss of sense of taste on my right side of my tongue, that came back after a few months. I didn't experience vertigo or anything like that, and had very little pain after the surgery.
 
yes That is true I got my taste different to weird that is very careful not good. I don't know what is problem cause taste if you make stranger taste. if you going to removal implant then change better stranger tastes. I don't know what is problem really that is really problem difficult to explain to you cochlear implant is very taste and hear different.
 
what are you FDA?

SouthFella said:
As of today, still NO satisfactory response from Advanced Bionics over the pending FDA fine. Talk about slow .. hmmmmm...

Makes me even more relieved I chosed the MedEl Opus2 with the nifty remote..

And I am not dead nor had any seriouos health issues frome the surgery nor the CI processor. Oh well on the CI will kill you naysayers..

Smile
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how can you know not dead, I don't believe that is not sure. I am alive and I am feeling happy and safety feeling better now
 
When the implant is inserted, the taste and facial nerve is right there . So, if the surgeon bumps , stretches, move or worse, break the nerves, it will affect our taste/facial muscles. That's why so many people after CI surgery lose their sense of taste for a period of time. When I woke up from the surgery, I was slapping my face to make sure my face wasn't paralyzed. All was well WHEW

AlleyCat just do your homework and research with gusto. Call the companies, ask questions with anyone about anything. I am glad I did my homework/research before I went under the knife. I have no regrets at all .

I am just amazed at the Dead miltants that treat me ( and other CI people ) like I am some anti deaf person. Which is their loss.
 
I think the whole key to the issue is that all of you CHOOSE to have an implant. You made an informed decision for yourself. Maybe you had side-effects, maybe you didn't, but it was your choice. People are implanting thosands of young children, as young as 6 months old, who have no input and are not involved in the process at all.
You want a CI, do your research and decide as an adult if you want to take the leap....my concern is the children who haven't chosen this for themselves.
 
faire_jour said:
I think the whole key to the issue is that all of you CHOOSE to have an implant. You made an informed decision for yourself. Maybe you had side-effects, maybe you didn't, but it was your choice. People are implanting thosands of young children, as young as 6 months old, who have no input and are not involved in the process at all.
You want a CI, do your research and decide as an adult if you want to take the leap....my concern is the children who haven't chosen this for themselves.
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What if we'd gladly make the choice as adults but could only benefit from a CI in childhood? The reality is that either way, you ARE making a choice for your child that they may or may not be happy with as adults, since results from a CI for those who don't benefit from hearing aids are quite poor for adults.

I'm not saying that you must make one choice or the other. I'm saying that whether a parent gets a CI or not, you are making a choice for your child that affects them later on either positively or negatively and that's what parents do.

Possible complications/side effects both negative and positive come with every aspect of life and every life choice - not just surgery.
 
R2D2 said:
What if we'd gladly make the choice as adults but could only benefit from a CI in childhood? The reality is that either way, you ARE making a choice for your child that they may or may not be happy with as adults, since results from a CI for those who don't benefit from hearing aids are quite poor for adults.

I'm not saying that you must make one choice or the other. I'm saying that whether a parent gets a CI or not, you are making a choice for your child that affects them later on either positively or negatively and that's what parents do.

Possible complications/side effects both negative and positive come with every aspect of life and every life choice - not just surgery.
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+1 Good Post!
 
Then why get implanted as an adult at all? If the decision *must* be made in childhood for benefit, then why even offer CI's to prelingually deafened adults?
 
faire_jour said:
Then why get implanted as an adult at all? If the decision *must* be made in childhood for benefit, then why even offer CI's to prelingually deafened adults?
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Most of us who get implanted as adults had enough residual hearing as children to be able to develop speech with the use of hearing aids. Most of us progressively lost that residual hearing to the point that CIs became a more viable option than hearing aids. Therefore we were able to transfer those skills learned in childhood to the use of CI in adulthood.

Children who do not benefit from hearing aids even in early childhood are a different category. If they wait til adulthood to get the CI, then it is much harder to learn to use a CI and in fact, many such adults give up, often experiencing headaches etc because their brains can't cope with the sound input. I have a friend who falls into that category and he lasted one year with a CI before giving up.

In adulthood, it has been well documented that the prelingually deaf people who get the most benefit from CIs are those who did well with auditory verbal stimulation at an early age (via hearing aids obviously).
 
faire_jour said:
I think the whole key to the issue is that all of you CHOOSE to have an implant. You made an informed decision for yourself. Maybe you had side-effects, maybe you didn't, but it was your choice. People are implanting thosands of young children, as young as 6 months old, who have no input and are not involved in the process at all.
You want a CI, do your research and decide as an adult if you want to take the leap....my concern is the children who haven't chosen this for themselves.
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Parents, not mere "people", are making the decision to implant their children. Parents are also making the decision NOT to implant their children. Why do you not have a concern for those children for whom the decision not to provide them with a cochlear implant is being made without their knowledge and consent?

Interesting that you have no qualms about your making the cochlear implant decision for your child but you express "concern" over my child and our cochlear implant decision.


Rick


BTW R2D2 great post!
 
R2D2 said:
Most of us who get implanted as adults had enough residual hearing as children to be able to develop speech with the use of hearing aids. Most of us progressively lost that residual hearing to the point that CIs became a more viable option than hearing aids. Therefore we were able to transfer those skills learned in childhood to the use of CI in adulthood.

Children who do not benefit from hearing aids even in early childhood are a different category. If they wait til adulthood to get the CI, then it is much harder to learn to use a CI and in fact, many such adults give up, often experiencing headaches etc because their brains can't cope with the sound input. I have a friend who falls into that category and he lasted one year with a CI before giving up.

In adulthood, it has been well documented that the prelingually deaf people who get the most benefit from CIs are those who did well with auditory verbal stimulation at an early age (via hearing aids obviously).
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So, I would more likely do well with CIs cuz I did well phonetically despite having a bilateral hearing loss since birth?
 
shel90 said:
So, I would more likely do well with CIs cuz I did well phonetically despite having a bilateral hearing loss since birth?
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Compared to an adult who didn't do well phonetically from childhood then yes, that is correct. The listening skills that lead to successful use of a CI are learned early on in life and are stored by the brain even when progressive loss occurs further down the track. I believe the same principle works in the use of sign language - the earlier the exposure to sign, the more fluent and natural the use of it. In fact the same principle probably applies to lots of things - the earlier the exposure to books, the better the reading skills etc.
 
rick48 said:
Parents, not mere "people", are making the decision to implant their children. Parents are also making the decision NOT to implant their children. Why do you not have a concern for those children for whom the decision not to provide them with a cochlear implant is being made without their knowledge and consent?

Interesting that you have no qualms about your making the cochlear implant decision for your child but you express "concern" over my child and our cochlear implant decision.
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Have you ever considered that I am not talking about YOU!

I know personally probably a dozen parents who went into implanting their children with very little information and had no idea about the other options avaiable to them. The doctors told them to do it, so they did. Some worked out for the best others did not. I hope that someday ALL information will be given to parents and not just one side.

As, I have said before I have a huge concern with the entire idea of a parent consenting to ANY surgery for a young child (of course life threatening injuries and illnesses aside). I have the view that we are steward of our children, not owners. I believe that our society has a very warped view of children, in general not about deafness or ci's or anything, and I believe that affects how I view childhood implantation.

As for my daughter...I will continue to do what I feel will be of greatest benefit to her, and right now that does not include an implant. As I have said before, I have no problem with the technology, I have a problem with the philosophy and perspective that generally go along with it.
 
faire_jour said:
Have you ever considered that I am not talking about YOU!

I know personally probably a dozen parents who went into implanting their children with very little information and had no idea about the other options avaiable to them. The doctors told them to do it, so they did. Some worked out for the best others did not. I hope that someday ALL information will be given to parents and not just one side.

As, I have said before I have a huge concern with the entire idea of a parent consenting to ANY surgery for a young child (of course life threatening injuries and illnesses aside). I have the view that we are steward of our children, not owners. I believe that our society has a very warped view of children, in general not about deafness or ci's or anything, and I believe that affects how I view childhood implantation.

As for my daughter...I will continue to do what I feel will be of greatest benefit to her, and right now that does not include an implant. As I have said before, I have no problem with the technology, I have a problem with the philosophy and perspective that generally go along with it.
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Ah, but when you express "concern" about children whose parents made the implant decision for them, then you are talking about me, my wife and my daughter and I think you should be advised for your edification that in our case your "concern" is neither warranted nor needed.

Don't know the parents you know but find it hard to believe that any parent who thoroughly researched the cochlear implant would be unaware of other options that exist and if they blindly followed a doctor's advice without question, then shame on them as they have done their child a disservice regardless of the outcome. These parents are far different then the hundreds of parents I have met over the last twenty plus years who took their parental responsibilities seriously and made the cochlear implant decision after consideration and deliberation.


Finally, as I have stated before, I think I have a much different view of my role as a parent to my children then you do. I am much more then their "steward", I am their parent and as such both legally and morally I have been entrusted with awesome responsibilities and obligations to continuously act in their best interests. Sometimes, those resposnibilities and obligations mean that we have/had to make decisions for them that they were not capable of make by virtual of the fact that they are/were children. Deferring a decision to such time as they were either an adult or mature enough to understand all the ramifications is not always an option or in the child's best interests.

So I do not want you to think that you have cornered the market on acting in a child's best interests due to your particular belief system for there are many other parents who possess a different belief system and are also acting in their child's best interests.

Again, no one way to raise any child, even a deaf child.
Rick
 
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