For months, private health insurers have been demanding that the TGA stop doctors implanting spinal cord stimulators.

Private Healthcare Australia says the devices, which involve placing leads in the epidural space that send low-level electrical stimulation to the spinal cord, do not work to treat pain.

Noting that about 1300 spinal cord stimulators were implanted last year at an average cost of $58,000, its CEO Dr Rachel David (PhD) said: “After well-publicised medical disasters such as the pelvic mesh scandal, Australian patients deserve better.”

Her comments were made to the ABC’s Four Corners which claimed hundreds of patients were experiencing complications, including repeated shocks from the implanted devices which in one case sent a patient “flying through the air”.