A month ago, Alicia Ortstad, 19, heard about Region Uppsala’s decision to stop new prescriptions of microprocessor -controlled knee joints. She received the message, and other patients who struggled to get such aid, via TV4 News.
Instead, she received a mechanical prosthesis that the region believes should work just as well as a microprocessor -handle prosthesis, which Alicia does not agree with. Because she can’t work and has a hard time walking up stairs. At the same time, her boyfriend Simon, who has been given a microprocessor -controlled prosthesis, can ski.
Region Uppsala claims that there is no sufficient evidence that the prosthesis that Alicia demands would be better than she and refers to a report from Region Örebro County. But according to Europe’s first professor of orthopedic technology, Nerrolyn Ramstrand at Jönköping University, the region is wrong.
– Microprocessor -controlled knee joints are better for patients when it comes to reducing fall accidents, they increase mobility. We know that they do not have to think so much when they go and that there is research that shows that they are getting better quality of life, Nerrolyn Ramstrand tells TV4 News.
“Not a political decision”
Politically responsible for health care in Uppsala Region is Neil Ormerod (V), chairman of the hospital board. He sees no reason to oppose the decision makers at the Academic Hospital, whom he describes as one of the best hospitals in the world.
– It is not a political decision, it is a decision that the health care has made, says Neil Omerod (V) to TV4 News.
He points out that the region’s economy is strained and calls for more money from the state, but the researcher Nerrolyn Ramstrand believes that the decision will not save the region any money. She is co -author in a Swedish study that conducted a cost analysis of microprocessor -controlled knee prosthesis. In it, it is concluded that the long -term cost is not greater than if healthcare prints simpler variants to the patients.
– It is because there are less fall accidents and hospital visits, says Ramstrand.
Scoliosis is aggravated
When TV4 News meets Alicia Ortstad again, she has found out that she has scoliosis and says it has been exacerbated by her current mechanical prosthesis. She says that she never gives up the struggle to get the right help and is happy for all the support she received from the public after her story was sent in TV4 – even if she tells her that she has it tough.
– I’ve started to fall more and back pain keeps me awake at night. I have started to have a hard time sleeping and can’t work, Alicia Ortstad tells TV4 News.