Linda J. L. Radach

Washington Advocates for Patient Safety
linda.radach@gmail.com

My advocacy grew out of personal harm at the hands of a failed medical device regulatory system. This failure was the cause of my being given metal-on-metal hip resurfacing devices, which were not cleared, for market until three years after my surgeries. The premature failure of the implants set in motion a cascade of events resulting in six hip replacements within the last eleven years. Every effort in advocacy is fueled by the desire to keep my story from being repeated in the lives of others. I am committed to working toward regulatory and legislative changes that guarantee safe and effective medical treatments, improving informed consent and shared decision making, and public education regarding safe patient concerns. I have served as a consumer rep on Yale CORE Technical Expert Panels, am a patient advisory member of the Robert Bree Collaborative’s Hip and Knee Bundle workgroup and the Clinical Practice Guideline workgroup of the American Physical Therapy Association. I am always available to provide assistance to anyone anticipating conversations with physicians regarding a joint replacement. Even though advocacy work is slow and sometimes isolating, I press on in hope that as we each do our part we will make a difference.