MICHELE STEGER is one of thousands of Australians whose ordeal with failing and poisonous hip implants was described by a Senate committee this week as ''intolerable and unacceptable''.
Not only had the product failed at rate several times higher than normal, the ill-functioning metal joint had spread toxic levels of chromium and cobalt into the tissue of her hip.
The Senate community affairs references committee said it believed ''insufficient information has been provided to consumers regarding concerns with the device. This is regrettable''.
Regret understates Mrs Steger's reaction when she learned in October 2010 that a previous implant that had caused her so much grief officially had been withdrawn from use 10 months previously.
The first hint she got that her DePuy ASR implant had been recalled in December 2009 came neither from her surgeon nor even health authorities.
