Cell Phone ban in hospitals unnecessary

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Ever go to a hospital and see the signs banning the use of cell phones? I have, and then wondered why half the staff and doctors wander around with a cell phone to their ear. Usually a guard or nurse will tell you that cell phones interfere with medical equipment. It turns out they are wrong.

According to a recent study at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, normal cell or mobile phone use has no effect on patient care equipment. However, if you have a pacemaker or internal defibrillator, you might want to stay away from those anti-theft devices at store exits.

Most hospitals forbid the use of cell phones. Dr Jeffery L Tri,, Dr Rodney P. Severson, Dr Linda K. Hyberger and Dr David Hayes said their tests indicate the ban is unwarranted. They tested both GSM and TDMA cell phones from different carriers, switching them on near 192 different medical devices. They tested 300 different scenarios with the cell phones, and no malfunction in the patent equipment was observed.

They tested other consumer electronics and found that a portable CD player caused an abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) reading when a patient used it near one of the leads of the device. The doctors published their study in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

And at least two reports suggest that anti-theft devices set up near the doors of retail stores can cause implantable rhythm devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators to malfunction.

Dr. J. Rod Gimbel of East Tennessee Heart Consultants and Dr. James Cox of the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville described two cases in which anti-theft devices apparently caused implanted heart devices to malfunction.

One of the patients had a pacemaker and she collapsed after pausing in a store doorway. Another had an implantable cardiac defibrillator that shocked him after he stood near an anti-theft unit.

The devices are called electronic article surveillance or EAS systems and use an electromagnetic field to detect surveillance tags.

"Many times with public safety issues we wait until something bad occurs before we act. Here's an opportunity where we can make our knowledge public and head off future problems."

"More than 1 million EAS systems are installed worldwide," Gimbel and Cox wrote. Stores and their employees should be aware of the danger of these devices and know what to do if someone collapses near one.

"Simply moving the person away from the anti-theft device may save their life," Gimbel said in a statement.