Expert Witness needed for sacral nerve stimulation

[CCB]

Hello All,
2008, My daughter received a pacemaker for urgency/frequency of urination, and it was not the one she was told she was getting or trained on, which was mandatory to have before surgery. This pacemaker had two leads, not just one. After the pacemaker was installed, she experienced shocks, and pain so bad she could not sit, and could get the Medtronic Representative to program it so it would work correctly, without the shocks and the sitting pain, she had to turn it off, and then deal with the urgency/frequency when off. Fortunately, we received a new representative who referred us to Stanford Hospital, where they replaced the Syngerty with the correct FDA approved Interstim.

Fast forward to today, we are trying to sue the doctor for putting in the wrong pacemaker and causing a year of added pain and shocks.
We are having a problem getting a urologist to be a expert witness, the defense is saying that this is a common thing to use the Syngerty and not the Interstim.
Does anyone know a doctor who uses the Interstim who would be a expert witness for us. The doctor at Stanford agreed to be the witness, then his board said no, and he changed his mind. Leaving us without a expert.

If anyone else out there has had a Syngerty pacemaker for urgency/frequency and pain, let me know, since they say its so common to switch, I would love to know how many people get this and not the Interstim.

Thanks so much for any input. Cici

[Madi's Granny]

I have Syngerty EZ. I had it for a little over 4 years and have had hardly any problems with it. The guy who has reprogrammed mine has made the comment a couple of time that they are harder to program. You can't put but one program in them at a time, But that's all you couuld do with the earlier ones. He doesn't really like the patient's remote because they don't have digital readout so you can tell where your setting are and that you can only turn it up, down, off or on. When they do get out of the program you want it is hard to them back on track as mine is right now, We have made a lot of progress in the last month and I hope we have it on track now. I have never have any shocks or pain in my leg from it, Just a few tingles that was corrected by shorting the width of the pulse. I don't know of a urologist who would testify about the switching of one for the other. I was not to which one I would get. I was not trained on either before surgery only after.

[CCB]

Thanks for your info.
Did you get this for urgency/frequency?
and Did you also get this unit for Pain?
Do you have painful bladder?
I ask this because my daughter does not have pain when she pees, so her bladder is not painfull, only urgency/frequency and myofacial pelvic pain and pudendal nerve issues.
Getting the syngerty means you have two leads, and the interstim only needs one lead.
We had such a horrible experience with the syngerty, she now has had two interstims since and they work great for the urgency/frequency.
Thanks for your info, it helps to understand why doctors would choose the syngerty and not the interstim.
Cici

[Madi's Granny]

I have the Interstim for urgency/frequency. I have an overactive bladder. As I recall my doctor said he got better results when he put stimulation to both sacral nerves. He now use 2 interstims instead of the Syngerty. The nurse that does the reprogramming for him says the reprogramming is difficult and time comsuming with the Syngery. I've had very good results with my Syngerty. I was told when I need it replace I will get 2 one on each hip. I hope this was of some help to you. I think both the interstim and the Syngerty can cause problems like what happened with your daughter if not properly installed. I have heard that a lot of Medtronic repesentive and doctors don't help the way they are supposed to when something doesn't go right. I think that is why my doctor had his nurse trained by Medtronic to do the reprogramming.

[CCB]

I've been doing a lot of reading on this subject, trying to understand why a doctor would put in two leads vs one lead. The Interstim only takes one lead, and this is what she has now and it works just fine, she received two so far, we also have a good rep, who is attentive to her if she needs an adjustment. The syngerty is larger and is fda approved for back and leg pain only. So it was used off label for my daughter and didn't do her any good.