About a week and a half ago, I blogged about a Florida TV news report that took to task a radio amateur living a few doors down from a woman using an insulin pump. She claimed that his operation caused the pump to malfunction, putting her health at risk.
After hiring a consultant to look into the matter, the homeowner’s association ordered the ham to cease operation, even though the consultant’s findings were inconclusive. The report from Sublight Engineering, PLLC, of Arlington, VA, states, “It is possible that HF amateur radio operations described herein could create fields that exceed manufacturers (sic) limits.” (Italics are mine.)
In my original post, I wrote, “This report is troubling for many reasons. I hope that the ARRL is aware of this, and is looking into it.” Well, they did and reported on their findings. As expected, they wrote, “It also became apparent that there is no actual evidence connecting the amateur’s transmissions to operation of the insulin pump.”
Ria, N2RJ, the ARRL Hudson Division director, also produced a video on this situation:
What I don’t understand is why no one contacted the manufacturer, Medtronic. Wouldn’t they want to know if one of their devices was faulty, or if their manufacturing and testing procedures were faulty?
With no real conclusion to this story, it’s bound to pop up again. You know that someone somewhere is going to claim that a ham is interfering with his or her insulin pump and a Google search is going to turn up this story on the Florida TV station’s website. I think it would have been a good idea to completely debunk this story, so that when it does come up again, we can just point to this case and blow off the complainer. As it stands, however, we really can’t do that.