Controversy, as they interfere with peaceful deaths:
When Carol Lewis’s father-in-law died, family members circled his hospital bed to pray, expecting to offer their final goodbyes peacefully. Then his body suddenly started to lurch.“He jumped,” said Lewis, a nurse from Hadley, Mass. “Then he jumped again, and again. It kept happening.”
Finally, two hospital staffers rushed in and placed a large magnet on the 86-year-old’s chest, deactivating a device that doctors had implanted years earlier to zap his ailing heart if it faltered.
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{ 3 comments }
Interesting comment about the magnet. We have had several patients where we tried this and it didn’t work. I was told that newer models cannot be deactivated this way. Anyone know more?
Quite alarming for this family.
Just one more thing to put on the DNR checklist of things to get done before the patient is checking out.
Anon 10:46 -
For St Jude and Medtronic ICDs, placing a magnet over the device and keeping it there will mask the sensing of the device and VT/VF will not be detected; but if removed the device will go back to normal functioning.
Guidant devices are programmable to have this same feature, but may not be programmed this way.
Best to have the device turned OFF if the pt does not want therapy.
CardioNP
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