Cell Phone Usage in Hospitals Can Be Dangerous
September 6, 2007 4:30 PM | Interesting | Comments (0)
Next time you go to the hospital to visit a patient; you may want to leave your cell phone in your car or turn it off before entering the hospital. According to a new Dutch study, mobile phone usage in hospitals can be dangerous. The study, published yesterday in the online journal Critical Care, stated that researchers measured the impact of electromagnetic interference (EMI) from cell phone use on hospital equipment such as ventilators and pacemakers. |  |
The study came about because a doctor and his team wanted to use 3G mobile phone technology to monitor mobile intensive care units remotely. However, they first asked a Dutch telecom company if it would be safe to use UTMS, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, technology which, like W-CDMA in the U.S., facilitates data transfer near medical devices.
The Dutch telecom company didn't know, so the doctor and his colleagues decided to evaluate the impact of cell signals themselves; they tested the signals' effect on 61 medical devices and found that 26 (or 43%) were disrupted by EMI. Most incidents were caused by a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) signal, a mobile data service that handles heavy-duty data transfer in international GSM networks, used by companies such as Cingular/AT&T and T-Mobile.
More studies will have to done, so in the mean time, stop yapping of your cell phone when you head to the hospital to visit Auntie Betty. You may end up accidentally hurting her with your cell phone signal.
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