I can think of at least one reason phones are being plugged into USB’s…
Federal safety officials have issued an urgent warning about software defects in an anesthesia delivery system that can cause life-threatening failures at unexpected times, including when a cellphone or other device is plugged into one of its USB ports.The ARKON anesthesia delivery system is used in hospitals to deliver oxygen, anesthetic vapor, and nitrous oxide to patients during surgical procedures. It is manufactured by UK-based Spacelabs Healthcare Ltd., which issued a recall in March. A bug in Version 2.0 of the software running on the device is so serious that it could cause severe injury or death, the US Food and Drug Administration warned last week in what’s known as a Class I recall. In part, the FDA advisory read:
via Bug can cause deadly failures when anesthesia device is connected to cell phones | Ars Technica.
In my practice in the ER, there are two types of patients: those who travel with their phone chargers and plug them in, and those who don’t and whose phones are dying. The former will plug into any power port, the latter are the ones asking if anyone has a charger they can borrow.
So, your loved one is in the ICU on the vent, you’ve been calling and texting for what seems like forever, and you get to sit at the bedside. You’d never think twice about charging your phone off the nearest USB port; it’s never been a problem before, why would it be now?
Why that would shut down a ventilator is terrible planning on the part of the manufacturer, and it’ll get fixed. For you, though, don’t plug your pone into medical gear, as apparently some of it isn’t hardened against real life.
