Tainted CPAP machines and ventilators went to children, the elderly and at least 700,000 veterans despite internal warnings. Company insiders said the devices posed an “unacceptable” risk.
This is genuinely huge and is negligent homicide at the very least. We need multinational lawsuits to deal with multinational crimes like this.
Knowingly using a material that degrades with heat and humidity and can cause cancer in the manufacture of a heating humidifying healthcare device, and then ignoring all reports for years is diabolical stuff.
It sounds like it’s not just a case of “could cause cancer” it sounds like it straight-up does cause cancer. They’re not just talking about carcinogenic compounds, they’re talking about genotoxic carcinogenic compounds. My understanding is that normal carcinogens carry a risk of developing cancer, but it’s not guaranteed. Genotoxic carcinogens, however, are almost guaranteed to cause cancer because they actually change how cells work.
I went and googled the difference for us, because I have no idea:
The term “genotoxic carcinogen” indicates a chemical capable of producing cancer by directly altering the genetic material of target cells, while “non-genotoxic carcinogen” represents a chemical capable of producing cancer by some secondary mechanism not related to direct gene damage. - Hayashi Y. (1992). Overview of genotoxic carcinogens and non-genotoxic carcinogens. Experimental and toxicologic pathology : official journal of the Gesellschaft fur Toxikologische Pathologie, 44(8), 465–471. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0940-2993(11)80159-4
It’s worse than that. My buddy had one and on a fixed income, had to scrabble and scrimp to pay for a replacement. I just sent him the article and said I hope he sues them.
The recall really fucked CPAP prices. Phillips and Resmed make up probably 99% of the CPAP machine market with a few other companies fighting over the scraps. And to be fair, none of those other companies come close to making a machine as good as a Resmed or Phillips one. Redmed and Phillips probably have a 49.5% share each of the market. So when Phillips was suddenly yoinked from the market, it left a HUGE hole none of the others could fill. To make matters worse it happened during supply shortages. I know Resmed was having problems with getting chips for the modems their machines use to remotely report to doctors. In addition they were switching over to a new model, so production of the older model was ending, too.
To put it in perspective, I picked up a used Resmed Airsense 10 with low hours for about $150 a month or so before the recall. Hell, I’d even see people giving them away on Craigslist sometimes. Nowadays you’re not paying less than $400-$500 for a used machine last I checked. That is close to the price you’d pay for a new machine before. Everything associated with CPAP machines went through the roof, as well, even though there was no shortage for those.
To add insult to injury, you can’t get the parts to fix this things. This is another market where right-to-repair needs to be opened up. I get it, though, they are medical devices and faulty 2nd hand parts could cause injury or even death, but for those of us with the skill and wherewithal, we should have access to the parts. I’ve torn down both my machines and cleaned them out. The main failing part is the blower motor. I mean that thing sees 10s of thousands of hours of use. My main machine has been used on average for 8 hours a day, every day for around 6-7 years, total. Yet replacing it is dirt simple - pull the old one out, unplug it, plug the new one in, put it in the machine, boom, done. Having authorized repair techs would be dirt simple. It just wouldn’t be as profitable as forcing insurance companies and individuals to shell out hundreds of dollars for a new machine. Which circles around to another pet peeve of mine - profit motive and healthcare need to be wholly divorced from each other.
Sorry, this went on longer than I wanted it to, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop.
Wow, no one should have to go through all that. I’m sorry you do.
Which circles around to another pet peeve of mine - profit motive and healthcare need to be wholly divorced from each other.
I wholly agree.
Once again profit was more important than the health and safety of common people. And i am quite sure that none of the responsible parties will see jail time over this, because they never do.
I will scream it till the day I die, profit motive and healthcare do not belong together. At all. In any way, shape, or form.
The worst part is that it took them years after it came out to be a known risk before they actually sent me a replacement machine.
Having to choose between the risk of heart failure and the risk of cancer sure was fun…
Instead of making you wait, they should have been forced to shell out to get you a new machine from another company. Well, Resmed. All of us who use CPAPs know that Phillips and Resmed machines are far and away better than any other machine out there. Which sucks for us users.
Phillips, the pride of the Netherlands. Long time ago.
People suffered because of this, people died.
They should investigate what execs and managers knew about this and failed to act within a month and send them to jail for a year for each month they failed to act.
Any time a company decides to go for profit over human suffering and casualties, execs and managers should be jailed. It’s the only thing that will stop these practices.
Sooo I used one of these for years, and only found out about the recall when I went to get a replacement after a housefire. How fucked am I?
