Medical Devices
Top 10 Medical Technology Hazards of 2020 Announced
By Christopher Cheney, HealthLeaders Media, October 08, 2019. Surgical staplers are the top medical technology hazard for 2020, according to the ECRI Institute. Twenty years after publication of the Institute of Medicine’s landmark report To… Read More
Cleaning Plant Troubles Could Lead to Hospital Tool Shortage
WASHINGTON (AP) Nov. 5, 2019— In an Oct. 25 story about medical devices, The Associated Press reported on the closure of several facilities that use a carcinogenic gas to sterilize medical equipment, including a Georgia… Read More
Medicare Fraudsters Now Tap Telemedicine In Medical Equipment Scams
By Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News, Oct. 9, 2019. Dean Ernest had been living in a nursing home about a year when his son, John, got a call last winter asking if his father was… Read More
Patients Struggle To Get Crucial Diabetic Supplies
By Bram Sable-Smith, NPR Shots, Sep 19, 2019. In the first three months after getting his Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, Ric Peralta managed to reduce his average blood sugar level by three percentage points. “It took… Read More
Hospitals Should Replace Infection-Prone Scopes With Safer Models, F.D.A. Says
By Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times. Companies that make reusable, snakelike cameras to examine patients internally should begin making disposable versions, because the current models cannot be properly sterilized and have spread infections… Read More
Insulin Pumps Have Most Reported Problems in FDA Database
By Holbrook Mohr And Mitch Weiss, Medical Press. This Nov. 14, 2018 photo taken in Jackson, Miss., shows the Medtronic Paradigm REAL-Time Revel insulin pump of Polly Varnado’s daughter. Medical device manufacturers and experts say… Read More
Breast Implants Linked to Rare Cancer Are Recalled Worldwide
By Denise Grady, The New York Times. Textured breast implants made by Allergan that have been linked to an unusual cancer are being recalled in the United States at the request of the Food and… Read More
Widespread Harm From Faulty Heart Device Kept Secret by FDA
By Christina Jewett, for Kaiser Health News. Faced with the possibility that a bout of abnormal heartbeats could end his life, in 2006, Dr. Marc Sicklick had a small device implanted in his chest that… Read More
FDA Hides Information on Dangerous Devices From Patients and Doctors
By Christina Jewett, Kaiser Health News. The Food and Drug Administration has let medical device companies file reports of injuries and malfunctions outside a widely scrutinized public database, which leave doctors and medical sleuths in… Read More