Suits Target J&J Discs

"We have a lot of clients with these double-level disc replacements," Flowers says. "DePuy may claim it can't control rogue doctors. But it's not like the doctors have 20 discs in their office. They call DePuy -- and there's a DePuy rep there [during the operation] -- so DePuy clearly knows what's going on."

To be fair, DePuy promotes Charites for the treatment of single-level disc disease only.

Meanwhile, Rosen regularly fields emails and telephone calls from suffering patients who underwent disc replacements involving the Charite and similar devices. He has successfully operated on two of those patients, including Titsworth, so far. He has no idea yet whether he can help the rest.

Titsworth feels better, but remains disabled at the age of 45. He says he's no longer "walking around with a broken spine" after Rosen repaired some of the damage caused by his device. Still, even now, he's no longer walking around very much at all.

He misses playing with his toddler, riding motorcycles with his teenage son and gardening with his wife. He misses "anything and everything," in fact.

"Walking down to the mailbox semi-pain-free would be nice," he says. "I watch TV. That's what I do. This is my life."

To be sure, however, he can remember feeling far worse before his latest surgery.

"They would ask me to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to 10, and I would say, '1,000,'" he recalls. "I lost my job. I almost lost my family. I'm surprised I'm even here."