medical device

Listen Imagine a surgeon scouring the web for how-to videos during a complex procedure. It happens, especially in the ever-evolving and rapidly growing world of implantable medical devices. So now, a virtual reality system is trying to help surgeons prepare to use all the new equipment available to them.

Listen Pharmaceutical companies are trying to police so-called “bad drug” ads, starting in Tennessee. The state legislature is advancing a bill that would restrict advertising meant to recruit people harmed by medication or medical devices.

Listen There’s no doubt that surgically implanted devices improve lives — drug pumps, nerve stimulators, spinal rods. But the devices can also do serious damage, like they have to Mechel Keel. “It ruined my life, yes it did. I’m sitting here with tears,” the 59-year-old grandmother says.

Listen In an operating room, there’s the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, a surgical tech and a scrub nurse. And in many procedures that involve an implanted medical device, there’s often someone else standing quietly along the back wall — a sales representative working on commission for the maker of artificial joints or bone screws. With the […]