An
estimated one to two million people die each because they don't have
access or the means to receive a pacemaker. But people are beginning
to donate recycled pacemakers to those countries that don't the means
to provide it's people with one. The recycled pacemakers are coming
from people who die with still-functioning pacemakers. (Pacemakers
are small devices implanted into the heart that provides electrical
pluses to keep the heart at a steady pace) A survey in Michigan and
Illinois found that 19 percent of those who died had pacemakers, most
of which are buried with the body or thrown away as medical waste.
The device can cost anywhere between $2,200 and $6,600, not including
doctor and hospital fees. A professor from the University of Texas
Health Center, Bharat Kantharia collected 122 pacemakers and donated
them to a hospital in India where 53 were implanted. All but two of
patients showed remarkable improvements. However, the FDA only
approves one time use for pacemakers in the US, making it hard to get
the recycled devices overseas. Studies suggest the the recycling is
safe, but definitive data is not yet available making if harder to
get the FDA to make any changes in the laws.
Once
again, people of the United States have immediate access to life
saves devices and procedures that are hard to come by in less
developed countries. But in this situation we have millions of excess
devices that are still in working condition, ready to be donated.
However, government policies and regulations prohibit us from doing
so. Unlike with vaccines that are for one time use, pacemakers (as
long as they still have significant battery life left) can be reused
and don't pose much of a cost to third party organizations as do
vaccines. So where does the line end? When do we stop imposing laws
that stop us from helping those less fortunate people who don't have
the medical access that we do here in the United States?
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/us_heart_pacemakers
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