Hip Implants on NPR

via Maggie Mahar's twitter feed, an NPR story covering the consequences of metal on metal hip implants in grisly detail. We're going to spend billions in direct medical costs putting these implants into people and then taking them out after they've shredded their insides, and probably billions more in legal costs as the manufacturer, surgeons, and hospitals try to stick each other with the blame.  All that money for this:

The first implant also became loose. "At one point, the doctor said, 'OK, I'll hold your hands ... now stand on that leg.' And I stood and it went kuh-CHINK, like that, and he said, 'What the hell was that?' "

I think the story of how this product came to the market and why surgeons chose to use it will say a lot about health care in America.  I look forward to someone writing it.