re: Just finished watching “The Bleeding Edge” and want to talk about it.

Friend worked for years as an engineer designing implants. He now has a consultancy focused on navigating the process, idea-patent-prototype-trial-regulatory approval-production.

Cautionary tale that he tells:

Hip manufacturer's subcontractor changed brands of coolant used in the CNC machine on which one titanium machining step was performed. New coolant contained one additive that wasn't soluble in the solvent used to clean the implant prior to final assembly & packaging.

Coolant additive remained in the roughened surface of the titanium stem meant to promote bone attachment. Bone would attach then encounter this chemical and then detach. Detached bone = failed implant = surgical retrieval = very pissed off people.

Whoopsie Doopsie.