From the Minneapolis Star Tribute, an interesting article about a stolen pacemaker, sold on eBay and implanted into a patient:
Bowen allegedly stole two Medtronic pacemakers from the hospital in October 2004 and then posted them for sale on eBay, the online marketplace. Typically, a pacemaker costs about $6,000, but Bowen sold them for $255 each, police said.
The buyer was Greg Etts, a purchasing manager for a large cardiac practice based in the Phoenix area called Advanced Cardiac Specialists, according to a report issued by the Arizona Medical Board. Etts later admitted to board officials that he knew the pacemakers were stolen when he bought them and that he often purchased devices on eBay…
…Dr. Ashok Garg, a physician with Advanced Cardiac Specialists, implanted the stolen pacemaker in the patient and then paged a Medtronic sales representative, according to the medical board. The board is investigating Garg’s role in the matter and could revoke his license as a result.
The patient is apparently doing fine. Medtronic already has some security measures in place, but it’s obviously not enough. Might I recommend a Lo-jack device in their pacemakers? Future versions could even be deactivated via remote control.
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