If you use a Philips #CPAP machine, you might want to return it right now. 561 deaths have been linked to a failure where pieces of foam break off and are sent down the breathing mask where they can get inhaled.
LB: I used to have a Philips machine that was supplied to me by the NHS.
When I first heard about the issues they had, I called up the sleep clinic and asked what their plans were. A rather haughty woman condescendingly informed me that they hadn't identified a problem that required any action, and that the Americans are simply more litigious than we are.
A month or so later, I got a letter asking me to bring my machine in to be replaced.
As an addendum to this; the machine they replaced it with was dog shit. Sure, it had bluetooth and all that, but it was crap. No matter how I set it, I still snored enough to keep my wife awake.
Ended up moving house to a different area, covered by a different clinic, who supplied me with a much better ResMed machine.
@drahardja If you had one of the affected machines you really should have seen it recalled and replaced a year or two back (totally free and pretty straightforward). No indication that the replacements have any similar issues are there?
@drahardja@ukuku That model was recalled, there's a replacement model from philips but that is being investigated for overheating/fire/electric shock issues, perhaps even formaldehyde leaching from it. Philips announced this week that they will stop manufacture of their CPAP and some ventilation products in the US. I strongly advise not to use a Philips CPAP even if there are no obvious foam issues. Philips tried to cover a lot of this up because they put shareholders before people's lives.
@drahardja If I read the story correctly, the issue with the deaths was from the original version's foam breaking down. If it's been replaced as part of the recall, it should be safe. That said, the Propublica article on the same subject did state that there are still FDA concerns on the newer foam offgassing so even then you're not entirely in the clear.
@owainski Yeah they’ve had recalls to replace the foam, but I think there is a design issue where the foam can get inside of the airway in the first place.
Also, I’m not sure what it takes to pull products off the market, but I’m pretty sure “561 deaths” should be enough.
@drahardja The article doesn't seem to mention this but when the issue originally came up — I've been following this for a while for reasons -- the foam issue was across Respironics’ entire line of equipment including medical respirators, not just the Dreamstation. There's a good chance that those deaths are from people with compromised systems rather than just CPAP users. If anything that makes things worse for Phillips, rather than better, as it's not just a single model design flaw.
@drahardja Found the reference in the referenced FDA document: “In April 2021, Philips first notified the FDA of their intention to conduct a field action due to concerns pertaining to foam breakdown in certain ventilators, BiPAP machines, and CPAP machines.”
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