Pacemakers Get Their Own Wireless Connection

Bleeding Edge

from the everything's-connected dept

US health officials have decided it’s okay for new pacemakers to transmit data wirelessly from the patient wearing the pacemaker to their doctor. I guess there’s nothing really special about this, but it seems like a pretty cool and useful improvement. Besides, it’s nice to know that your doctor can check to make sure your heart is beating properly whenever they want to. Of course, the service only works if the pacemaker user is in an area that has cell phone coverage – meaning that it’ll probably cut out in the middle of a transmission most of the time. I wonder if there are roaming charges? “We’re sorry, you were on that other pacemaker company’s network when your pacemaker stopped working properly…”