prosthesis news stories on Newser

Feds: Hospital Scammer Sold Patients' Prostheses

Matt Cantor — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:47:05 CDT

Seeing this health worker could literally cost you an arm and a leg. A hospital official may have tricked his patients into replacing quality prostheses so he could trade the originals for cash on eBay, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The FBI is looking into whether the head of prosthetic...

Cancer Survivor Forced to Remove Breast in Pat-Down

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 05:08:28 CST

A cancer surviving flight attendant was recently forced to remove her prosthetic breast during an airport pat-down, the veteran flier has revealed. Cathy Bossi, who worries about the cancer risks of excess radiation, reluctantly went through a body scanner before boarding a flight at the Charlotte Douglas International airport for...

Fired Disabled Woman: Abercrombie a 'Sweatshop'

Matt Cantor — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:00:01 CDT

The 22-year-old British student with a prosthetic arm who won nearly $15,000 in a discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch compares its working conditions to a sweatshop. “I found it disturbing,” Riam Dean tells the Daily Mail . “There were so many people in such a tiny space. People were...

Elephant Getting Prosthetic Leg

Kevin Spak — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:29:02 CDT

A 48-year-old Thai elephant who stepped on a landmine 10 years ago got fitted for permanent artificial leg today, the AP reports. Motola, who's become a cause celebré for the plight of elephants worldwide, got measured for the new limb at an elephant hospital in Thailand. Until now she’s been...

Abercrombie Loses Lawsuit Over Clerk's Prosthetic Arm

Harry Kimball — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:13:20 CDT

The London woman banished to the Abercrombie & Fitch stockroom because of her prosthetic arm has been awarded more $13,000 by an employment tribunal, the BBC reports. Riam Dean wore a cardigan to cover the joint between her prosthesis and her body, but the sweater clashed with the retailer’s...

New Robotic Arm Takes Cues From Brain

Katherine Thompson — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:50:01 CST

Artificial limbs have come a long way from the wooden legs and plastic arms of old: Today's prosthetics take messages directly from the brain. Their performance far exceeds that of the previous generation of devices, which required concentrated effort to make ungainly motions. "You think, and then your muscles move,...

Vets Pioneer New Techniques for Limbs

Jonas Oransky — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:09:05 CDT

Cutting-edge vets have developed new prosthetics for disabled animals that could bode well for human amputees, Time reports. The most exciting technique is called osseointegration—a procedure in which a porous prosthesis is inset into the bone, which then grows into the metallic holes, making a strong anchor onto which...

Whew! Mills Survives Week One

Sarah Seltzer — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:51:37 CDT

Disabled Dancing With the Stars contestant and tabloid target Heather Mills (formerly Ms McCartney) says her one leg "turned to jelly" when she realized she was staying for another week on the show. Mills writes about her experience for USA Today , talking up her designated charities (Vegetarians International Voice for...

Heather Mills Dances into America's Good Graces

Heather McPherson — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 12:35:07 CDT

Heather Mills, amputee victim and Beatle ex-wife, tried to foxtrot her way into the hearts of Americans last night on Dancing with the Stars. Much maligned by the British press since her acrimonious split with Paul McCartney last May, Mills, whom LInda Stasi calls "the most loathed amputee since the...