Faulty Pacemakers

Hi all,

Just seen this..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3191708/Faulty-pacemakers-killing-2-000-year-unexpected-deaths-patients-thought-caused-malfunctions.html

Not very encouraging - Len

7 Comments

Hi Len

by IAN MC - 2015-08-10 03:08:26

Thanks for sending that ; interesting !

Yes Sparrow, it IS referenced in that the studies were done by Professor Zian Tseng in the University of San Francisco. These studies have just been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA , as it is known, is a very reputable publication.

The suggestion is that some deaths are caused by PM / ICD malfunction , but what does that mean exactly ?

I see that " malfunction " includes :-

- - batteries running out
- - bad programming
- - wrong type of implant fitted e.g. patients should have been given ICD s but were given PMs

All of those are due to human error either by the patient, the technician or the doctor

I have no doubt that some devices do malfunction and can lead to deaths and I have no problems with a newspaper pointing that out !!

I guess a newspaper article (or a medical publication ) highlighting that malfunctioning hearts can cause deaths
would not grab the attention to the same extent though.

Cheers

Ian


Daily Fail

by Pacemum - 2015-08-10 05:08:34

For those outside of the UK this is a so called 'newspaper' which is well known for printing absolute nonsense and totally inaccurate stories.

hmmm...

by knb123 - 2015-08-10 09:08:51

If you take it with a teaspoon of salt, try not to swallow (none of us can afford the extra sodium). LOL

Hmmm Hmmm

by TickTock-UK - 2015-08-11 02:08:26

Hi Busrider and pacermum,

What makes you think that The Daily Mail is printing absolute nonsense..

This is not something from the UK this is the figures discovered by the American researchers..and Professor Zian Tseng, who led the research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association...and as Ian said ...All of those are due to human error either by the patient, the technician or the doctor..

So why would you not believe something printed in the dailymail??

Len

Past experience

by Pacemum - 2015-08-12 06:08:54

From past experience and stories written in this paper they often drift very far from the facts or truth behind the original study just to make reading more interesting.

The study is of a very low number of American patients.

Little is stated in the article in relation to the age of the patients/any other existing heart or other health issues etc.

Healthcare is not free at the point of use in America and therefore they are more likely to skip appointments or decide to end treatment themselves. Anyone skipping appointments is leaving themselves open to a greater chance of pacemaker malfunctioning as appointments pick these issues up earlier and this enables many issues to be rectified.

Healthcare regulation is different in America to that of the UK.

Pacemum

by IAN MC - 2015-08-12 08:08:32

I imagine that before any papers are accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association they will be scrutinised by a panel to establish their scientific validity. So I doubt that the study is totally worthless.

BUT as you rightly say the data applied to a small American population and in the US the costs of treatment must adversely affect outcomes in many areas. Inevitably, if you have to pay very large amounts of cash for treatment then more batteries will run out and more patients will live with sub-optimal PM programming.

It leaped out at me in the Daily Mail article that in the text they said " If the figures applied to the UK , implants would cause 2000 deaths per annum "

I can just about live with that, but not with the headline which became " FAULTY PACEMAKERS KILLING 2000 A YEAR "

The headline distorted the facts beyond belief.

That's journalism for you !

Cheers

Ian

Statement by...

by golden_snitch - 2015-08-13 09:08:09

The Arrhythmia Alliance and British Heart Rhythm Society have issued a statement on the newspaper report:
http://www.heartrhythmcharity.org.uk/www/media/files/150813-se-Statement_on_device_malfunction_Aug_2015.pdf

You know you're wired when...

You fondly named your implanted buddy.

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