Airport Scanner causes Pacemaker Malfunction

I've just read this report in the news today :-

A 30-year-old woman has died in her husband's arms after her pacemaker was affected by an airport security scanner.

The tragic incident occurred in the southern Russian town of Ulan-Ude.

Diana Tolstova died in the airport just minutes after passing through the scanner. Her husband Maxim, 33, said the couple had provided the airport with papers detailing the pacemaker.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Maxim said: "I don't know what happened but she went through it anyway.

"When we got to the departure gate she began to feel dizzy and suddenly collapsed.

"I grabbed her in my arms and called for medical help.

"It took a few minutes before hospital doctors arrived, and when they did they didn't know what to do. They didn't give her any first aid and they didn't call an ambulance.

"My beautiful Diana died in my arms."

According to the Mirror, a spokesman said: "Security and airport personnel are given strict instructions about how to handle people with pacemakers and we warn them never to let a wearer go through a metal detector.

"In normal circumstances they see their papers and let them pass.

"In this case, the patient seems to either have forgotten about it, didn't know or became confused by the airport security arrangements.

"But every patient receives a strict warning."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting, but it won't put me off flying ( maybe I will avoid Ulan-Ude airport ! )

Ian

13 Comments

Yes who knows ?

by IAN MC - 2014-11-23 01:11:10

It was possibly a co-incidence.

Knotguy; it is certainly not "friend of a friend " coverage ; it is now on pretty well every reputable news channel.

Of course we all travel by air and have no problems; I have flown more times than I can remember since having a PM
and of course I have had no problems.

But it has always fascinated me that some people with PMs get strange pre-syncope feelings when they go through supermarket security gates, most don't ! It would seem that some people with PMs are affected by electromagnetic radiation and some aren't .

It will be interesting to see how the story unravels as more information comes through.

Ian

So what is it?

by Theknotguy - 2014-11-23 01:11:36

So what is the newspaper? Where is this supposed to have happen? When did it happen? What kind of pacemaker? How old was the pacemaker? What other problems did the woman have? Was an autopsy performed?

I find these friend of a friend type reports to be urban legends. Just because someone jumps to the conclusion doesn't mean it happened that way.

I traveled across the eastern half of the US, went through three airport scanners. Was in the UK, went through two airport scanners. Was wanded at the London Eye. Had to go through a metal scanner at, of all places, a State Fair. Absolutely no problem with my pacemaker.

People jump my case on this forum all the time because I supposedly say things that "scare" people new to pacemakers. Then I go and read this kind of post. We really don't need the yellow journalism.

Airport story

by golden_snitch - 2014-11-23 01:11:49

Hey!

Someone posted this in a pacemaker/defibrillator facebook group, too. Apparently this news is all over the yellow press/tabloids. Already commented in the group that I do not believe this women actually died from the pacemaker malfunctioning. It's probably just a coincidence that she died minutes after passing through a metal detector. The detector certainly did not switch off her pacemaker. But even if it had, there are very, very few patients whose heart has no backup rhythm at all and who'd pass out and die that quickly without the pacemaker. Maybe she had an undiagnosed case of Long QT, and her excitement over travelling triggered an episode. Or it wasn't even heart related, a stroke or something. Who knows.

Inga

Hi Theknotguy............

by Tattoo Man - 2014-11-23 02:11:14


.................as IAN MC mentioned the story here in the UK was carried by the much respected Daily Telegraph...founded in 1855, this paper has a reputation for being accurate.

Perhaps we can keep an open mind on this piece of news...as Inga points out there may well be extenuating circumstances, as yet unknown to us...

All evidence points to airport scanners being 99.999999% safe..so there is no reason for anyone to be scared...however this Forum deals with the facts, be they palatable or otherwise. I have a hunch that IAN will be the very first to keep an eye on this story .

Tattoo Man

misleading story

by Tracey_E - 2014-11-23 02:11:14

It could be coming from a reputable source, but the media likes to be misleading because sensational stories get more attention. I really hate that this story is circulating because it will cause unnecessary fear. The FACTS are she went through, she had a pm, she died. Nothing about those facts indicates they are related. There is zero evidence the pm was even affected much less caused her death. In the story I read, it said she collapsed half an hour later, and didn't get help for half an hour after that. THAT is more than likely why she died. It's just a coincidence she had a pm.

Agree with Tracey

by golden_snitch - 2014-11-23 03:11:39

There is no reputable German newspaper etc. reporting about this. The only article one can find is from Germany's biggest tabloid paper. No other newspaper has published this, yet. And that one tabloid reports the woman went through a body scanner, not metal detector.

Hate that stuff like this is being copied and pasted by so many different media, without doing their own research first. I mean, all they'd need to do is call an EP or cardio. All of my EPs/cardios say, walking through the detector is no problem, all that can happen is that the detector will beep. But it won't switch my pacemaker off or change settings are anything.

Inga

Good News

by IAN MC - 2014-11-23 03:11:58

it has been reported by Fox News so it can't be true !!

Ian

under investigation

by Pacemum - 2014-11-23 05:11:45

It would appear from what I have read that exactly what happened is still under investigation. There appears to be a delay in receiving the correct medical treatment when the lady became unwell. If the scanner was responsible for a change in settings what happened after could have contributed to this lady losing her life. Such a tragic story.

I make sure my daughter avoids the airport scanners as there are risks and you never know how old the scanners are. It is hard to avoid them in some airports as they are hoarding everyone through. Also it can be difficult to attract the staffs attention and people do stare at anyone avoiding the main scanner. It would be better in the age of digital technology if the pacemaker information could be added to the passport digital data to alert passport control and security staff.

Scanners

by Bostonstrong - 2014-11-23 07:11:52

I accidentally walked through a metal scanner last year, and yes, I admit I forgot about the pm at that moment as I was distracted when moved from the regular line to the TSA pre check. A little travel ADD. It was embarrassing to admit to the TSA lady that I forgot about the pm but no ill effects. I'm guessing a recent MRI had a lot more potential for electromagnetic interference than a scanner. No ill effects there either. I hope this story does not induce fear or cause pm hosts to alter travel plans.

FLYING

by jessie - 2014-11-24 01:11:20

you are quite right ian i have flown to many countries in the last 8 years and i walked thru a detector once forgetting about my pacemaker and had no ill effects. maybe something else was going on with this lady jessie

Interesting story - source?

by donr - 2014-11-28 11:11:04

I checked out the source & it appears to be Central European News, apparently based in London & a major source of news for a lot of end users. The Telegraph article was written by a woman whose name i cannot recall tonight, but hers appears to be the first article printed on the story. I found a page on the web w/ about a dozen stories, all dated AFTER hers, so either all the writers used the same source or used her as a source. I could find no copy that appeared too be something w/ a "By line" in the CEN, so that organization must ONLY provide info to a group of newspapers or retail news outlets.

I'll second Ian's description of the Telegraph as a reputable source - having read it every day for about 18 months while living in the UK.

However, that being said, the precision of a newspaper (or any other retail news source) on a given subject depends on the basic knowledge of the writer & editor about that subject. Precision refers to the completeness of the presentation of facts about the incident. The accuracy of a given story is another issue. Accuracy is the correctness of the facts presented. I've read many articles that were factually correct - as far as they go, but nowhere near complete in describing what happened.

That is probably what happened in this case - a bunch of people writing about a subject they knew little about, working on a re-write of information that lacked a lot of precision.

In the FWIW Dept - Ulan Ude is hardly in the south of Russia. It's east of Lake Baikal, just barely north of the Mongolian border. True, it's on the southern edge of the Russian Federation, but it's darned near to the Pacific Ocean.

Donr

Ulan Ude Redux

by donr - 2014-11-29 02:11:02

Ulan Ude is a rather strange place. It is bordering on Mongolia, so shoo;d have a predominantly Mongol;/Tartar population. It does NOT - it is predominantly ethnic Russians. It is a major center for something; I cannot recall what, but a long time ago - in the early 1990's I met a bunch of significant Russians at a party/gathering in Washington, DC. At home I still have all their business cards. Included in that bunch were a couple w/ familiar names I want to say one was Breznevh. I'm going to check when I get there. That's when Ilearned where Ulan Ude is located & a fair amount about the place. I went to the web & looked the place up & it has a rather bustling airport for such a remote location.

Ian is correct on one point - we will probably never hear any follow up.

Remember several yrs ago when the elderly couple was reported to have been killed by an ICD when they were in a hot tub in Florida? Weird as that story was, there was a follow up in the newspapers after the Medical Examiner's report was filed. Blake first reported on the event & I followed up w/ several comments after the ME's report was published.

Would be nice to see follow up.
Donr

Source ?

by IAN MC - 2014-11-29 12:11:24

It certainly seems that as the wording of every report is pretty well identical , it must have come from a single source.

The sad thing is that if it had happened in Atlanta , or the UK or Germany etc we would have had a follow-up explanation from the authorities by now.

As it happened ( allegedly ) in Russia we will probably never hear anything more !

Ian

You know you're wired when...

Microwave ovens make you spark.

Member Quotes

I'm a runner, mountain climber, kayaker, snow skier, bicycler and scuba diver. The only activity among those that I'm not yet cleared to do is scuba diving, and when I am cleared, I'll be limited to diving to 50 feet.