Watch Like Device for At-Risk Patients

DigitalDame writes "At-risk patients will soon have a little help from a device worn on the wrist that can measure vital signs including pulse rate, cardiac rhythm (ECG or EKG), and blood oxygen levels. It can either store the data and transmit it to a medical center at a later time or, in the case of an emergency, transmit the information in real time using the built-in cellular phone while sending an alarm to a caregiver."

Comments

This didn't exist already? Dig the pricing.

[putko]

I'm surprised there wasn't something similar enough already -- it sounds essential.

I find the pricing to be the most curious: "The price will vary, Atzmon says, according to service packages and insurance coverage."

I can understand prices varying with costs. Buy why does the "insurance coverage" matter? Shouldn't the device cost whatever it costs, regardless of what insurance someone has?

The last time I bought something at the store, they didn't say, "oh, hey -- how much insurance do you have -- I need to know that so that I can price the bag of cereal you got."

Sounds like some in-your-face price discrimination.

Re:Yes, but privacy?

[Vo0k]

Maybe people that ill should be in a hospital, not walking around in the streets?

You're missing the point: Let them out from hospitals. What worth is your life if you're to spend the rest of it in the hospital bed? These people prefer to risk their lives and spend some of their time with the family, outdoors, just living, instead of being stuck in hospitals. This device lowers the risk they are willing to take anyway.
I spent a month in hospital and I was going crazy from boredom. Now think of spending all your life there... A week outside is worth more than a year there.

Re:Yes, but privacy?

[TopSpin]

Maybe people that ill should be in a hospital, not walking around in the streets?

The presumption being the patient is being denied sufficient attention? As someone with actual experience with real patients I can tell you that the reality is the patients would rather not spend years of their lives living out of a hospital due to some chronic condition. We have no end of drugs and therapy that enable people to continue living with serious conditions that would have killed them in the recent past. They live among you, one pill to the next, occasionally calling in EMTs to handle the more dramatic moments, and they want to spend no more time in a hospital than you.