Right up until the day Dr. Frederick McCoy took early retirement, the former President of Guidant Cardiac Rhythm Management remained beligerant with members of the news media. As recorded on videotape screaming at my friend Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Detroit's WXYZ-TV7, he really believed Guidant had no responsibility to warn people they might die - because his company had knowingly shipped faulty devices. Now he and other Guidant execs will have to explain to federal investigators why they dumped so much of their Guidant stock on the eve of the faulty defibrillator story reaching the public. They should be counting their blessing none was charged with involuntary murder, especially Dr. McCoy... at the very least, these crooks should face manslaughter charges.

We hoped McCoy's Departure and Boston Scientific taking the helm were signs that this era has come to an end. It is not an exageration when I say, "Our lives depend on it!" Sadly, it does NOT appear a thing has changed with a differnt company name going up over the ICD production lines. The same old "what's best for our shareholders" seems to be again subjugating what is in the best interest for their "end user" customers - those of us whose lives depend on these small boxes of electronic hardware. The sham of this "settlement" to end the Guidant saga is a perfect example of the business as usual lack of change. A exec at Boston Scientific (Initials: BS) was quoted - forgetting to tell a reporter his comments were "off the record" - revealing the settlement was: "Far less - two-thirds less - than what Boston Scientfic expected and was ready to pay out."

How much less? The company had apparently budgeted a $600-Million pay-out for this series of cases!

FYI: I feel a whole lot better with a Saint Jude device implanted inside me now. After three previous Guidant implants, my EP properly decided my comfort level for the next half dozen years would be much higher with my life guarding hardware coming from a company not identified with unethical business practices. I can't believe how accurate that is turning out to be, especially now, in the wake of the unfairly low and unreasonable BS/Guidant settlement.

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Do NOT sit quietly when the Media botches ICD Coverage! I really believe most journalists want to get it right. But most of my former colleagues face the constant pressure of deadlines and an ever increasing work load - as newspaper and television reporters now must take pictures and shoot video to go on their employers' websites and smaller staffs are expected to accomplish what an army of journalists did a few years ago. When they get it wrong, like the recent reporting about "ICD battery replacement" is the result of copy/pasting news releases without checking with other sources and getting verification when there's a conflict of interest from the source being used - something required when I worked in the newsroom. Today's newspeople just have too much on their plates.

And... NONE of the coverage I have seen or heard or read today has a single mention that doctors induced Vice President Cheney with an arrhythmia which lead to cardiac arrest. This must be done when a new ICD (whether the first time or the tenth) is implanted... to make sure it works before suturing the surgical wound closed. It's a normal, but dangerous part of the testing required to complete implantation. I think it's a rather important part of the story to note that the second most powerful man on the planet (first most if you believe he pulls the strings) was technically dead - albeit briefly - today. Since we saw video of Mr. Cheney walking out of the hospital, we can assume his new device responded as it should and yanked him back from Death's Door. But readers and viewers should not have to make this assumption. Right? A big deal was made about Mr. Bush turning over control of the government last week during his colonoscopy.. which did not lead to his heart stopping. Anyone else think this was a critical omission - likely because it was not included in the White House hand-out?

If you see errors in your local meda... please take a few moments and share your insight with the newsroom that got it wrong. If not... the next time there's an ICD story making news - you can count on this error being printed or broadcast again and again, as someone will call up the unchallenged error from their archives, and wrongly assume it is fact.

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As tempearatures continue heating up around the northern hemisphere, be sure to watch your fluids - replacing water lost by sweat (and because of our wonderful diuretics) and don't let your electrolytes get out of whack. That is one of the BIG reasons we suffer bouts of arrhythmia and end up getting a dose of Zapworthy therapy. Use common sense when it gets hot. I mention this in the wake of getting my own life saving Zap#8 a couple weeks ago.

Until next time.. stay well and Zap Free!!

Jon Scott Duffey
Publisher

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