Sadly, many amputees end up on the wrong side of a decision making process when undergoing “elective” amputation, such as the type of elective surgery a person with cancer may choose to make. The decision isn’t whether or not to go ahead with the surgery, but the decision of the beancounters at your typical insurance company. Read on.

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. - After bone cancer forced the amputation of her right leg below the knee, Eileen Casey got even more bad news: Her insurer told her that she had spent her $10,000 lifetime coverage limit on her temporary limb and that the company wouldn’t pay for a permanent one.

“It was shocking to find out I was going to have to take out a loan to buy myself a leg so I could keep working and living independently,” Casey said. At the bank, she said, she burst into tears when they asked what the loan was for.

Since then, Casey has joined a nationwide fight by amputees and the prosthetics industry to get the states and Congress to require fuller coverage for artificial limbs. The insurance industry is fighting the effort, saying such mandates drive up costs and reduce the flexibility customers want.

Dean Kamen is a legend in many industries, but perhaps not many know that much of his inspiration has come from a personal desire to help the physically challenged. Today, word comes from Wired about his latest invention, a mind-controlled robotic prosthetic arm. Check it out.

MSNBC has a fabulous article up about the many advances being made in prosthetic and assistive technology. From simple advances, such as more comfortable materials, to the more bizarre advances such as miniature ‘free-thinking’ assistive technology devices powered by moth brains, it becomes more and more obvious each day that the human body itself may become obsolete in the no longer invisible future, as long as the brain remains well fed and cared for.

The need for better prosthetics, driven in part by the hundreds of amputees returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, has spurred a host of innovations enabling unprecedented control over artificial arms and legs. Already, researchers have begun unveiling sensor and microprocessor-packed “intelligent” knees, thought-controlled mechanical arms, and artificial hands with fingers able to pinch and grab.