Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/984530
17 SPINE SURGEONS Alaska neurosurgeon sued after photographing patient's genitals during spine surgery — 5 insights By Shayna Korol A lawsuit filed March 15 in Anchorage Superior Court alleges neurosurgeon Louis Kralick, MD, photographed the genitalia of a patient undergoing spine surgery at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Dr. Kralick signed a letter of apology, KTVA reports. Here are five things to know. 1. The lawsuit names Dr. Kralick and Providence as defendants. On Dec. 8, 2017, Dr. Kralick conducted spine surgery on a male patient when he pulled up the draping covering the patient's genitalia and used his iPhone to take "one or more" photos while the patient was under anesthesia, according to the complaint. 2. The complaint alleges Dr. Kralick sent the photographs to his wife or another third party without valid medical justi- fication. A Providence compliance officer referred in the suit as "John Doe" learned of the incident and instructed Dr. Kralick to delete the photos. 3. Providence personnel contacted Anchorage Police Department to report Dr. Kralick's activity, and APD conducted an investigation in which the operating room staff cooperated while Dr. Kralick refused to give a statement to the police or participate in an interview. APD seized Dr. Kralick's phone but was unable to access the device without the password, the complaint alleges. 4. Dr. Kralick sent a letter of apology to the patient's home Jan. 5. "While I did not intend my actions to be disrespectful," the letter reads, "I can understand why some members of the operating room staff might have thought otherwise, and as a result I sincerely apologize." 5. Dr. Kralick remained on staff after the incident. He also has staff privileges at HCA Alaska Regional and Providence. n The future of total disc replacement technology, spinal disc regeneration: Key thoughts from Dr. Scott Blumenthal By Laura Dyrda I n March, Orthofix acquired Spinal Kinetics, an artificial disc company, for up to $105 million. e company's M6 artificial disc is designed to mimic the anatomic structures of a natural disc and have an artificial visco-elastic nucleus and fiber annulus. Here, Scott Blumenthal, MD, of Plano-based Texas Back Institute, discusses the disc and where he sees spinal technology headed in the future. Question: What do you think of Orthofix acquiring Spinal Kinetics? What differentiation does the M6 disc provide? Dr. Scott Blumenthal: Spinal Kinetics has done a great job of mar- keting its product. Patients are coming in and asking for the disc by name. e biggest advantage the company has is its marketing advan- tage because consumers understand its design benefits; the normal disc squishes in the middle and so does this disc whereas other discs don't. Load sharing is an issue with other discs, but the Spinal Kinet- ics disc doesn't have that problem. Physicians will ask to see the data behind whether the disc has better outcomes, and we don't have that data yet. However, patients don't care about the data; they will still ask for it and surgeons may want to be the first to offer it. Q: What do you see as the biggest innovation in implant material? SB: ere are titanium materials, PEEK implants, titanium-coated PEEK implants, micro-textured PEEK, pure metals and others. Ti- tan says they have the only true nanotechnology on the market, and we still need stronger data backed up by clinical science. In terms of outcomes, I haven't seen presented clinical data to show one beats the other. ey can market against each other, but ultimately they need clinical studies. Q: Where do you see biologics and stem cells headed in 2018 and beyond? SB: Mesoblast just completed enrollment for its study, which was truly blinded; the physicians administering the injections didn't know who got the Mesoblast and who didn't. at will be really in- teresting to see. We are six months away from that data. ere is another company in San Diego, Vivex, that has started a clinical trial with allogra material. ey are another company to keep an eye on; we've met with dozens of these companies and Vivex is the first one that said they would put money into a study of their prod- ucts. n