Eine Batterie außerhalb der Garantiezeit hätte das Exoskelett dieses gelähmten Mannes fast unbrauchbar gemacht | Für uns macht es keinen Sinn, ein medizinisches Gerät im Wert von 100.000 US-Dollar wegen eines kleinen Verkabelungsproblems wegzuwerfen, aber der Hersteller würde es vorziehen, das ganze Gerät zu ersetzen.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/26/24255074/former-jockey-michael-straight-exoskeleton-repair-battery
7 Comments
From the article: Michael Straight, a former jockey paralyzed from the waist down, was left unable to walk for two months after the company behind his $100,000 exoskeleton refused to fix a battery issue, as reported earlier by the Paulick Report and 404 Media. “I called [the company] thinking it was no big deal, yet I was told they stopped working on any machine that was 5 years or older,” Straight wrote on Facebook, referring to a wiring problem in the watch he wears to operate the machine.
“I find it very hard to believe after paying nearly $100,000 for the machine and training that a $20 battery for the watch is the reason I can’t walk anymore?” he wrote. Straight has been using the ReWalk exoskeleton since 2014, following a horseback riding accident years prior.
His situation isn’t the only one like this. In 2020, the medical firm behind a retinal implant that helps blind people see went bankrupt and abandoned the technology, leaving its users without support if something goes wrong. This Nature report also explains what happened to patients after the collapse of companies behind implantable devices used to treat conditions like cluster headaches and chronic pain or when their prototype devices languish if the companies can’t find a fit in the market.
Welcome to late stage capitalism where there’s good money to be made out of people’s suffering.
In the grim darkness of twenty first century America there is only war.
You would think an electronics repair shop would find a way to update the battery since it’s just the watch. However maybe there is more scrutiny to fixing medical devices.
If it’s a wiring issue could this not be repaired by someone someone with experience repairing electronics? I’m assuming this isn’t like a PCB trace or burned out chip or something that would require schematics.
I don’t expect companies to support their products indefinitely but if they stop they should provide enough product information that a 3rd party could reasonably expect to repair simple issues like this.
Assistive technology can be prohibitively expensive for the people that need them. I’m glad he was able to get it fixed, but it’s telling that the company only did something after going to the media for help.
This should really just fall under right to repair imo. It doesn’t say if this guy tried to take his product to a 3rd party repair shop but if it was a normal battery issue he probably could have. Companies should be forced to provide schematics and any digital tools necessary if they stop supporting their products.
An exoskeleton falls in the same category as a wheelchair to me though because it’s completely external. I don’t think it needs any special protections like implanted devices really should have. Implanted devices should be forced to have a plan of support even in the event of bankruptcy, guaranteed by the government or some insurer.
The company’s statement from the article:
>In parallel, as Mr. Straight’s device is now more than 10 years old, we are also encouraging him to replace it, now that Medicare coverage and other options are becoming available for reimbursement of personal exoskeletons for medically eligible individuals. Lifeward has committed to working to expand access to exoskeletons through reimbursement coverage, and after 5 years of effort, a new category was created by Medicare, which began paying for personal exoskeletons in April of this year.
>The company has built an internal team to work with the user and their clinician every step of the way during the process of screening for eligibility and filing claims to Medicare. This is a major milestone for the paralyzed community and for the industry to supply and provide replacements of these products.
So rather than trying to work with your clients (i.e. paralyzed patients) to come up with the right solution for each one and accommodate any reasonable requests (like, say, replacing a $20 battery rather than a $100,000 machine), you’d rather just threaten their entire quality of life just so you can strong arm them into buying a machine they don’t necessarily want and then extract as much Medicare money as possible.
Got it, thanks.