Healthcare Triage: Medical Device Failure, and How Data Can Help Us Prevent It

Things sometimes go wrong with airbags, food and drugs, prompting recalls. It can also happen with medical devices, though you’d think lifesaving devices like heart defibrillators or artificial hips would be closely monitored.

But the data needed to systematically and rapidly identify dangerous medical devices are not routinely collected in the United States. Why not? It wouldn’t be that hard to do.

That’s the topic of this week’s Healthcare Triage.

This episode was adapted from a column Austin wrote for the Upshot. Links to sources and further readings can be found there.

@aaronecarroll

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