100-year-old man walks out of hospital post-hip replacement

"My secret of a long life is regular work, meals and sleep. With those, everything works out.”

By JUDY SIEGEL
hip replacement 311 (photo credit: Eli Dadon)
hip replacement 311
(photo credit: Eli Dadon)
Instead of marking his 100th birthday celebrating with family members, Shlomo Begun spent it undergoing hip replacement surgery in the orthopedic department of Haifa’s Carmel Medical Center. His gift was being discharged and going home without a wheelchair.
Begun, who was born in Poland in 1911 and lives in the north, was taking out the garbage recently, as he did every day, when he slipped on some unidentified substance on the sidewalk. He was rushed to Carmel and diagnosed with a fractured hip. As the chances for survival are much enhanced when joint replacement surgery is performed without delay, his surgeon – Dr. Ephraim Bronstein performed the operation – did it immediately.
Department head Dr. Benny Bernfeld said that he and colleagues had performed many hip replacements on elderly people but never before on a centenarian. Even though giving general anesthesia to a 100- year-old patient is risky, there was no choice, as failing to repair a hip fracture would not only put him in a wheelchair but could lead to a fatal blood clot or other complication.
An advanced titanium pin was inserted to repair the bone, while the damaged bone was replaced with one from light chromium and cobalt that would not be rejected by his body.
Bernfeld noted that the Haifa’s Carmel neighborhood is on an incline and many elderly residents fall, thus the orthopedics department has much experience treating fractures.
Begun said he is used to difficulties, as he served in the British Army and was a captive of the Germans in the 1940s. His family brought a cake to the department to celebrate his birthday during his recovery.
“My secret of a long life is regular work, meals and sleep. With those, everything works out,” he said.
He smiled as he left the medical center walking with help from a metal walker.An advanced titanium pin was inserted to repair the bone, while the damaged bone was replaced with one from light chromium and cobalt that would not be rejected by his body.
Bernfeld noted that the Haifa’s Carmel neighborhood is on an incline and many elderly residents fall, thus the orthopedics department has much experience treating fractures.
Begun said he is used to difficulties, as he served in the British Army and was a captive of the Germans in the 1940s. His family brought a cake to the department to celebrate his birthday during his recovery.
“My secret of a long life is regular work, meals and sleep. With those, everything works out,” he said.
He smiled as he left the medical center walking with help from a metal walker.