FROM PRIME TIME TO SURVIVAL

FRANCES SCOTT:

The Cobalt Crisis That Changed Everything

By: Lennard M. Goetze, Ed.D

For years, Frances Scott’s face was a fixture of evening television. As a respected news anchor for ABC in Raleigh, North Carolina, she represented professionalism, confidence, and trust—qualities audiences counted on. But behind the bright studio lights, a storm was brewing that would turn her life upside down, shatter her health, and ignite her transformation into one of the most outspoken advocates against metal implant toxicity in America.

The Beginning of the Breakdown

At 38, Frances was active, athletic, and thriving. So when a doctor told her both hips needed replacement, she was stunned. “I was a runner,” she recalled. “I thought—how could I possibly need hip replacements at my age?” She did what most people in her position would do: researched medical journals, consulted experts, and placed her trust in modern medicine.

The surgeon she chose dismissed her concerns about the cobalt and chromium components used in her prosthetic joints. “He said, ‘Frances, how can anything measured in parts per billion have any effect on the human body?’” she remembered. “And I believed him. I deferred to his authority. That was my first mistake.”

What followed was not a smooth recovery—it was the collapse of a life. Within months, Frances began experiencing severe neurological and psychological symptoms: confusion, rage, memory loss, and emotional instability. “I ripped the big screen TV off the wall. I kicked my family out of our home,” she said. “It was like someone else had taken over my body and mind.”

Her skin erupted in painful boils—what she later recognized as “chrome holes,” identical to the lesions described in medical journals from the 1940s among workers exposed to chromium plating. Her mental clarity vanished, her energy evaporated, and her ability to perform as a journalist disintegrated. “I got lost on my way to work one day,” she said. “That’s when I knew something was terribly wrong.”

The Diagnosis That No One Wanted to Believe

Doctors were baffled—or dismissive. “Everywhere I went, they told me I was crazy,” Frances said. “They prescribed antidepressants and told me to go home.” But she persisted. Blood tests eventually confirmed what she had suspected all along: toxic levels of cobalt and chromium ions in her system—leaching from the very implants meant to restore her health.

“I saw twelve doctors,” she recalled. “Eleven said the same thing: have your hips replaced. The one I chose told me cobalt couldn’t hurt me. It took six years of suffering to prove otherwise.”

Her condition deteriorated rapidly. Cardiologists found thickening of her left ventricle wall and septum—early signs of cobalt-induced cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal heart condition. Neurological decline followed. “I had what we now know was encephalopathy,” she said, “but my insurance wouldn’t cover the PET scan to prove it.”

Still, her cries for help met resistance. “My own brother, a trauma surgeon, screamed at me that there was no way the hips were causing this. That’s how deeply physicians trust the products they use. They can’t even entertain that something so ‘approved’ could be harming patients.”

The Collapse and the Awakening

When she could no longer perform her duties at Disney/ABC, Frances’s career abruptly ended. “That was the end of my news career,” she said quietly. “Everything I’d worked for was gone.” She relocated to Texas, determined to uncover the truth about what had happened to her—and to thousands of others.

Her search led her to Dr. Stephen Tower, an orthopedic surgeon from Alaska who famously exposed his own cobalt poisoning in the Netflix documentary The Bleeding Edge. Frances helped contribute to the film and later testified before the FDA in 2019, warning of the devastating effects of metal-on-metal hip implants and the industry’s failure to protect patients.

“I realized the FDA is funded more than 50% by user fees from device manufacturers,” she explained. “That means the very companies making these implants help fund their regulators. It’s a conflict of interest by design.”

In the same year, Frances lobbied Congress in support of the Medical Device Safety Act and the Medical Device Guardians Act. “We met with staffers all day,” she said. “But they weren’t shocked by what we told them. One advocate finally told me, ‘Ninety-five percent of them are funded by pharma or device companies.’ That was when I understood how deep this goes.”

A Journalist’s Mind Reborn as an Advocate’s Heart

The same investigative instincts that once fueled her journalism now power her activism. “I sat through federal trials in Dallas,” she said. “I watched evidence being presented against the very product that was in my body. It was clear the data had been manipulated to minimize risk.” She was horrified to learn how the DePuy Pinnacle hip, made by Johnson & Johnson, entered the market through the FDA’s 510(k) loophole—a process that allows devices to skip human trials if deemed “substantially equivalent” to a prior model.

“When the ASR hip was recalled, the company told everyone to switch to the Pinnacle—its supposed ‘sister’ device,” Frances said. “But then they claimed they were nothing alike when the lawsuits began. It was deception, plain and simple.”

Unable to afford clinical chelation therapy, Frances devised what she calls a “poor man’s detox”—a regimen of spirulina, psyllium husk, bentonite clay, niacin, and NAC (N-acetylcysteine). “It was based on what I’d learned helping 9/11 responders detox,” she said. “And it worked. My metal levels dropped dramatically. I posted it online so other hip patients could try it, too.”

Her recovery—partial but profound—reignited her purpose. “My skin healed. My mind cleared. My heart improved. I felt human again,” she said. “And as a journalist, I knew this story had to be told.”

Taking on the System

Frances’s faith in the medical establishment was shattered. “I grew up reading medical journals,” she said. “My stepfather was an OB/GYN. I believed every word in those publications. But now I know half of it is marketing.” She discovered studies downplaying cobalt toxicity written by researchers with long histories of defending tobacco, asbestos, and industrial pollutants. “It’s what they call the ‘doubt science’ industry—paid experts creating uncertainty to protect profits.”

Her disillusionment, however, didn’t breed bitterness—it sparked a mission. She began writing a memoir and advocacy book about her experience. “Mainstream media wouldn’t tell this story,” she said. “They’re all funded by pharma ads. So I’ll tell it myself.”

Frances has since connected with physicians like Dr. Stephen Tower and Dr. Scott Schroeder—doctors who, like her, are determined to expose the dangers of metal hypersensitivity and the neurological effects of cobalt encephalopathy. “No neurologist asks, ‘Do you have metal in your body?’” she said. “That’s terrifying. People are being misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s, dementia, or psychiatric disorders when it’s actually cobalt poisoning.”

Faith, Family, and the Future

Today, Frances’s life is defined by purpose more than pain. Her children are grown, her symptoms largely subsided, and her resolve stronger than ever. “My husband once told me, ‘You don’t have to keep doing this—you can put it down,’” she said. “But I can’t. Not while people are still being harmed. Not while patients are being gaslit by the system.”

She volunteers with advocacy groups, collaborates on educational initiatives like DetoxScan.org, and continues to network with survivors, scientists, and physicians. “Every week I hear from someone whose life was destroyed by these implants,” she said. “If I can prevent even one more case, it’s worth everything I lost.”

Frances Scott’s story is not only about suffering—it’s about awakening. The journalist who once reported the news now is the news: a living symbol of how courage, curiosity, and compassion can rise from catastrophe.

“These toxins don’t just change your body—they can change who you are,” she says. “But if you survive, you can turn that pain into purpose. And that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

 

Understanding Cobalt Toxicity and Neurological Symptoms

Cobalt poisoning—also called cobaltism—occurs when metal ions from implants such as cobalt-chrome hip prostheses leach into the bloodstream. Once systemic, these ions can cross the blood–brain barrier, triggering inflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction in neural tissue.

Neurological effects: Patients may experience memory loss, mood swings, tremors, and cognitive decline resembling encephalopathy or early dementia. Many describe sudden emotional instability, depression, anxiety, or rage—symptoms often misdiagnosed as psychiatric disorders. Elevated cobalt levels can also disrupt neurotransmitter metabolism, impair vision and hearing, and in severe cases cause cobalt-induced cardiomyopathy, seizures, or psychosis.

Early warning signs often include tinnitus, neuropathy, chronic fatigue, and unusual skin lesions (“chrome holes”)—manifestations of oxidative injury to the skin and peripheral nerves. Because standard lab tests rarely screen for cobalt, diagnosis is frequently delayed until irreversible organ damage has occurred.

Testing and monitoring:

·   Whole-blood cobalt levels (>7 ppb) suggest toxicity; >20 ppb indicates serious systemic involvement.

·   Cardiac echocardiography and brain MRI/PET scans may reveal cardiomyopathy or encephalopathy.

·   Detoxification and implant revision (replacing cobalt-chrome components with ceramic or titanium) remain the most effective interventions.

Clinical takeaway: Persistent cognitive or cardiovascular symptoms in patients with metal implants warrant toxicology screening. “You don’t need to have visible failure of the implant to have failure of the patient,” notes Dr. Stephen Tower, whose work helped expose this crisis.

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Selected References

1.     Tower SS. Arthroprosthetic cobalt encephalopathy: Neurological and neuropsychiatric toxicity of cobalt–chromium alloy orthopedic devices. BMJ Case Rep. 2010.

2.     Bradberry SM, Wilkinson JM, Ferner RE. Systemic toxicity related to metal hip prostheses. Clin Toxicol. 2014;52(8):837-847.

3.     Mao X et al. Cobalt-induced cardiomyopathy in metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2017;99(3):e15.

4.     Catalani S et al. Neurotoxicity of cobalt: molecular mechanisms and clinical aspects. Arch Toxicol. 2012;86(10):1655-1661.

5.     U.S. FDA. Information for patients with metal-on-metal hip implants. Updated 2023.