R0D.com

Is the titanium rod used is hip replacements worth a lot of money?

I've heard that when some people die, they actually take the titanium rod out and sell it for 25000+! Is there any truth to that?

Public Comments

1. No, they don't remove them. It would be pretty difficult to do to start with. The parts are at least partially cemented into place, and designed so that bone will ingrow into the implants. It could be removed of course, but not by the average Joe. It also wouldn't be worth much to even try. Not all the replacements contain titanium either. Keep in mind that they aren't designed to come out easily, even when the surgery is needed to replace some of the components. If the body is cremated, then the parts would be left and sifted out. I have no idea what becomes of that metal, to be honest with you. You would have to ask somebody who worked in a crematorium to get that answer. I would suppose they could sell it for the value of the recovered metal, but even so it wouldn't command that sort of price. On top of that. the price for titanium has had a serious drop in price over the last year or so. The cost for the surgical replacement doesn't reflect the market value of the materials they used, it's the fact it is a medical device produced for a limited market that has to meet a lot of standards that drives the price. I think this is one of those horror stories folks pass around, but I don't think there's much truth to it.