The Software Freedom Law Center, an open source advocacy legal group, has issues a paper claiming that the closed nature of the software running most implantable devices is a health risk. Unsurprisingly, they then claim that the best way to address this problem, in terms of safety and security, is by making the code open source, or at least auditable.
From the abstract:
The FDA has issued 23 recalls of defective devices during the first half of 2010, all of which are categorized as “Class I,” meaning there is “reasonable probability that use of these products will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” At least six of the recalls were likely caused by software defects. Physio-Control, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medtronic and the manufacturer of one defibrillator that was probably recalled due to software-related failures, admitted in a press release that it had received reports of similar failures from patients “over the eight year life of the product,” including one “unconfirmed adverse patient event.”
Despite the crucial importance of these devices and the absence of comprehensive federal oversight, medical device software is considered the exclusive property of its manufacturers, meaning neither patients nor their doctors are permitted to access their IMD’s source code or test its security.
In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States’ ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc. made people with IMDs even more vulnerable to negligence on the part of device manufacturers.4 Following a wave of high-profile recalls of defective IMDs in 2005, the Court’s decision prohibited patients harmed by defects in FDA-approved devices from seeking damages against manufacturers in state court and eliminated the only consumer safeguard protecting patients from potentially fatal IMD malfunctions: product liability lawsuits. Prevented from recovering compensation from IMD-manufacturers for injuries, lost wages, or health expenses in the wake of device failures, people with chronic medical conditions are now faced with a stark choice: trust manufacturers entirely or risk their lives by opting against life-saving treatment.
We at the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) propose an unexplored solution to the software liability issues that are increasingly pressing as the population of IMD-users grows–requiring medical device manufacturers to make IMD source-code publicly auditable.
Press release: Software Defects in Cardiac Medical Devices are a Life-or-Death Issue, says SFLC’s new report…
Full paper: Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices…
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