An Interest In:
Web News this Week
- April 2, 2024
- April 1, 2024
- March 31, 2024
- March 30, 2024
- March 29, 2024
- March 28, 2024
- March 27, 2024
April 25, 2020 07:00 am
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/DRMEGW8-8V8/ventilator-companies-finally-make-the-life-saving-devices-easier-to-repair
Ventilator Companies Finally Make the Life Saving Devices Easier to Repair
America needs ventilators. The coronavirus has spread far enough that Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act on April 2 to make it easier to produce more. There's also broken ventilators on the market that could work with some repairs, but manufacturers spent weeks making it hard to get basic information needed for technicians to repair the machines. From a report: U.S. PIRG and other groups had been pressuring the manufacturers to release the ventilator information for weeks. On April 14, the States Treasurer of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Colorado called on the manufacturers to release the documents in an open letter. Now, ventilator manufacturers GE, Fisher & Paykal, and Medtronic have made it easier to access the repair manuals and other service information hospitals need to repair broken ventilators. GE opened a web portal where people can download the repair information for its Carescape R860 and Engstrom ventilators. GE typically requires a 4-day in-person training class to learn to repair ventilators but is making the information available to the public "to help navigate this crisis and ensure ventilators are maintained as quickly as possible to get these vital systems back into patient care." Medtronic, who makes a number of ventilators, has posted a portal to register for the design and repair information of its ventilators. Meaning that the savvy user could do more than repair a broken machine -- they may be able to build a whole new ventilator. But it's not enough, according to Kyle Wiens of iFixit, a company that advocates for the right-to-repair and teaches people how to fix their own stuff. "Medtronic only released the manual for the PB560, which they don't sell in the U.S," Wiens told Motherboard in a Twitter DM. "We don't have the manual for the PB980, their flagship model and the one used by our hospitals in San Luis Obispo."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Original Link: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/DRMEGW8-8V8/ventilator-companies-finally-make-the-life-saving-devices-easier-to-repair
Share this article:
Tweet
View Full Article
Slashdot
Slashdot was originally created in September of 1997 by Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda. Today it is owned by Geeknet, Inc..More About this Source Visit Slashdot