Quick question: If you were designing a wireless system for a hospital, do you think it would be a good idea to make sure that your technology doesn’t interfere with other medical equipment at hospitals? If you answered yes, you’re smarter than these guys:
CHICAGO - Wireless systems used by many hospitals to keep track of medical equipment can cause potentially deadly breakdowns in lifesaving devices such as breathing and dialysis machines, researchers reported Tuesday in a study that warned hospitals to conduct safety tests.
Some of the microchip-based "smart" systems are touted as improving patient safety, but a Dutch study of equipment — without the patients — suggests the systems could actually cause harm.
A U.S. patient-safety expert said the study "is of urgent significance" and said hospitals should respond immediately to the "disturbing" results.
The wireless systems send out radio waves that can interfere with equipment such as respirators, external pacemakers and kidney dialysis machines, according to the study.
Researchers discovered the problem in 123 tests they performed in an intensive-care unit at an Amsterdam hospital. Patients were not using the equipment at the time.
Electromagnetic glitches occurred in almost 30 percent of the tests when microchip devices similar to those in many types of wireless medical equipment were placed within about one foot of the lifesaving machines.
Nearly 20 percent of the cases involved hazardous malfunctions that would probably harm patients. These included breathing machines that switched off; mechanical syringe pumps that stopped delivering medication; and external pacemakers, which regulate the heart, that malfunctioned.
Source:Wireless hospitals systems can disrupt med devices - Yahoo! News
I’m too lazy to see if these wireless systems could possibly be covered under the Medtronic ruling. I hope not. Better still, I hope they fix the problem.
Hat tip to Hardocp.com
I’m too lazy to see if these wireless systems could possibly be covered under the Medtronic ruling.
You could save a lot of effort by just appending the first three words to all of your posts, and then you'll have an excuse for your ignorance when your posts reveal you don't know what you're talking about. Like this one does.
Posted by: Ted | July 01, 2008 at 09:31 AM
I can only imagine how quickly you'd ban me (again) from Overlawyered if I made a blatant ad hominem like that. Good thing for you I don't censor my comment threads.
So what would your preferred policy be? Would you allow negligence suits against these manufacturers if their equipment is interfering with pacemakers, dialysis machines, etc.?
Posted by: Justinian Lane | July 01, 2008 at 10:22 AM