Prosthetics & Amusement park rides

Prosthetics & Amusement park rides

Barry Steineman, CPO

Dear Colleagues:
 
I have had two patients who wear a lower extremity prosthesis come to me in
the past three weeks asking me to provide a statement (affidavit?)
guaranteeing that their prosthesis will not fall off while they are riding various rides
at a high profile amusement park. In thirty-one years, I have never had a
request like this. I was most recently provided a list (from the park) of
all the rides, followed by this statement:
 
Rides (X) and (Y): Manufacturer requires that guests with prosthetic
devices must provide documentation from the manufacturer of their prosthetic
device guaranteeing that the prosthetic device has been designed to remain in
place on a high speed roller coaster ride exceeding a maximum speed of 120
MPH...with maximum G forces from -1.5 Gs to 5 Gs with a sufficient safety factor
for single point failure items.
 
Has anyone dealt with this yet? Have any of you provided a prosthesis
specifically designed to remain in place on a roller coaster ride? Would an
insurance company consider that medically necessary, or a convenience item?
What is a single point failure item??
 
Although I can appreciate the importance of amusement parks addressing and
minimizing their high liability, what with children getting their feet and
heads chopped off recently on the rides, I, for one, am not comfortable going
out on a limb and guaranteeing that ANY prosthetic suspension system is
absolutely fail-safe, (at 5 Gs no less!). You cannot imagine how badly I felt when
I had to decline the requests of these young men, but, Hey......what could I
do?
 
So, esteemed list-serve members, if you have any suggestions, I am all ears.
 Summer's not over yet!
 
Thank you,
Barry Steineman, CPO/L
Toledo, Ohio



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