Dick Cheney Had Implanted Defibrillator Altered To Prevent Terrorist Attack

An anonymous reader writes "According to the Washington Post, 'Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he once feared that terrorists could use the electrical device that had been implanted near his heart to kill him and had his doctor disable its wireless function. Cheney has a history of heart trouble, suffering the first of five heart attacks at age 37. ... In an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, Cheney says doctors replaced an implanted defibrillator near his heart in 2007. The device can detect irregular heartbeats and control them with electrical jolts. Cheney says that he and his doctor, cardiologist Jonathan Reiner, turned off the device's wireless function in case a terrorist tried to send his heart a fatal shock.' More at CBS News."

Comments

Ripped from the headlines ... or the reverse!

[whoever57]

Cheyney obviously watches Homeland, in which the Vice President is killed by remotely acessing his pacemaker.

Re: Evil, powerful men have enemies.

[Anonymous Coward]

No. As a previous poster mentioned, the device has to be in very close proximity initially. However, in most ICD models once the heart device has been paired with whatever device is on the outside, communication can happen over a bit longer distances ( a few meters or so). Remember that these devices have batteries - they don't need coils. I have one, and it communicates with a receiver in my home when I'm around, allowing my cardiologist to be alerted if something odd happens with my heart rythm.

Re:Evil, powerful men have enemies.

[milkmage]

if his pacemaker is anything like the one my fried has, you basically have to touch his chest with another gizmo to see it.

so wireless in the sense that there are no wires sticking out of his nipple... not AQ can kill him from an internet cafe in Pakistan.

what's Cheney's IP? /duh.

Cheney's clueless, it's not that easy

[Chewbacon]

Classic case of the dumbasses we put in charge who go sticking their fingers in things they know absolutely nothing about. Cheney strikes me as a prepper and we need to keep dipshits like that out of office.

These devices have to be "woken up" with a sensor placed on the chest. Then it'll communicate with the interrogation equipment which can induces shocks via a defribillation test. The range is limited to about 15 feet. Despite the wireless option being turned off, anyone with the device used to interrogate can still induce a shock with the chest sensor.

Still, a shock could still be induced without the tech by causing artifact in the leads. Inappropriate shocks have been reported in people operating heavy equipment like jackhammers and chainsaws. So shake the shit out of him and he may get an inappropriate shock. Worst that would happen there is induction of ventricular fibrillation which would only cause an appropriate shock.