RISKY BUSINESS

RISKY BUSINESS
Heart device replacement
The finding: Patients who decide to replace their implanted heart defibrillators after safety recalls face a higher-than-expected risk of major complications during surgery.
The study: Six percent of 533 patients who had their recalled defibrillators replaced suffered major complications. Two people died.
Recalls: A total of 270,000 defibrillators have been recalled since January 2005. But a recall doesn't necessarily mean the recalled device will fail. And not every device failure is deadly.
Associated Press
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