Does anyone know where medicare and BUMMERCARE STAND ON THESE ISSUES IF TAX DOLLARS ARE GOING INTO R&D OR SUPPLY TO END USERS(PATIENTS).CL On Tuesday, August 16, 2016, Mary-Anne Wolf <[email protected]> wrote:
> Here > http://file.scirp.org/pdf/OJOG_2015012313592885.pdf > is an example of doctors reporting how they needed to make adjustments to > a pacemaker when the patient was pregnant. > I remember hearing a talk by someone who had a pacemaker, got pregnant, > and could not have the settings changed. She said, at the time the overlap > of people with pacemakers and those who got pregnant was too small for the > vendor to have included that ability. > > While I can understand why it would be possible to do harm by adjusting > the settings in the wrong way, we have an example here of a medical device > where a level of openness was essential to the well being of the patient, > so clearly that even the doctors knew. > > A difficulty of restricting the ability to change settings to officially > trained staff, as was done here, is that the priorities and perspective of > the patient may not match the priorities and domain expertise of those who > treat them. > > Here is an example of a doctor discussing that difference. > http://starlafitchmd.com/can-being-a-patient-make-us-better-doctors/ > "allow me to apologize to my patients. I had no idea. None." > > With wheelchairs, is it more important to adjust the center of gravity in > a manual chair so as to make it > less likely that the chair falls over backwards when climbing a steep > ramp? Or is it more important to adjust so as to minimize the patient's > fatigue in getting the chair to move? Patients may differ in what they > prefer, or the same person may change their mind over time. > > Is it more important to introduce a delay in response to the joy stick > controlling a power wheelchair, so that a 98 year old nearly blind person > with shaking hands will not move the chair by mistake? Or is it more > important that a healthier 54 year old person can avoid running over the > small child who is moving unpredictably in a supermarket? The pacemaker > vendors are ahead of wheelchair vendors in understanding the need to adjust > and customize. > > Mary-Anne > >
