3 ms·
It has reed switch which is specially designed sensor that closes in presence of even small magnetic field. This is intentional feature.
by lmilcin 6y ago
It has reed switch which is specially designed sensor that closes in presence of even small magnetic field.
This is intentional feature.
- amelius 6y agoIs this still how these devices are made?
- detaro 6y agoyes.
- amelius 6y agoI find this strange, as there are low-power transceivers, low-power microprocessors, etc. and you could power the device inductively during communication. And perhaps a simple solution would be to implement a door-knocking scheme, where you first apply a well-defined series of magnetic pulses before the device starts listening.
- detaro 6y agoIf the device malfunctions, you don't want people to be unable to do something about it because they don't have the right version of a disabling device, or trying to figure out what the knocking scheme for the specific patients device is (so changing it to a different system is also an issue, since there is then multiple things to try).
- aftbit 6y agoYeah I am not convinced by this. I see the virtue of simplicity, but it seems unlikely that strong magnetic fields will become less common in the 21st century. It would be much better IMO to design some kind of standardized knocking scheme and require all device manufacturers to implement it after some flag day. We already have very strong regulation for medical devices, so it should be pretty easy to add "ICD shall be disabled only when presented with a . .. ... .... magnetic knocking message with the following timings".
- lmilcin 6y agoYou know people who wear this are mostly older and worse health? Do you want these people to explain their family what kind of "knocking protocol" they need to implement to save them or do you want to tell them to relay to their family to "just bring the fucking magnet and stick it here".
- aftbit 6y agoNo, I want the knocking devices that all implement the universal standard to be sold for $10 on Amazon, and for the patient to be sent home with 2 when they get their device implanted. I was under the impression that mostly medical care providers would be interacting with the device. If there are truly a significant number of cases where untrained people use strong magnets to disable malfunctioning implants, then perhaps my tradeoff is wrong.