Y
ou know that USB port on the back of your anesthesia
machine? Looks like a handy place to recharge your cell
phone. Don't do it. When you plug a device such as a
smartphone into the anesthesia machine, it can cause a lethal fail-
ure while delivering oxygen and/or medicine to surgical patients,
says Brad Bonnette, senior project officer of health devices for the
ECRI Institute in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
Plugging unauthorized devices into USB ports can cause an array
of problems, triggering, for instance, some physiological monitors
to reboot, according to an ECRI Institute report. Last year,
ArsTechnica reported that merely
plugging a phone into an anes-
thesia device could potentially
have fatal results for patients.
Spacelabs Healthcare recalled
its ARKON Anesthesia System
with Version 2.0 Software
because the machine could stop
working if a cell phone or other
unwarranted USB device was
plugged into one of the unit's 4
USB ports for charging. There
have been no injuries or deaths
associated with this malfunction,
says Spacelabs
— Kendal Gapinski
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 2 7
Don't Charge Your Phone in Medical Device USB Ports
• CHARGING TROUBLE Crucial med-
ical devices can shut down or malfunc-
tion if a provider uses them to charge
his phone.
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