Theres a lot of government red tape that costs millions of dollars to get through as well. Thats why these companies get monopolies on equipment and medicines. Because good luck getting through the FDA to compete when the last company greased everyones pockets.
I've worked in the medical field with durable medical equipment (DME) for a decade. I can confirm - this is correct.
A lot of markup is to deal with huge inefficiencies due to the amount of regulation and complexities of getting paid. But many keep marking up past what is fair.
This is awesome. I hope the open source project can make it through though. I do safety-critical systems engineering and anything you design will be lucky to take 2 years to get approved. This is a manual ventilator too so I'm not sure how widely it can be deployed. You need someone standing by it 24/7 trained to not pump your stomach to the point you puke into the bag, inhale it and die. Anything helps right now though...
It's great when cost can be reduced, especially when it's by a LOT.
A ventilator doesn't do you that much good when you're in bad shape with Wuhan flu. Your alveoli thicken so that oxygen doesn't get from your lungs to your bloodstream. (Waste gases aren't eliminated from your blood, either) In this condition a ventilator can't possibly save your life, but it likely will add permanent damage to your lungs should you miraculously survive.
A blood oxygenation machine would make all the difference in this situation. Nobody's talking about these. They're probably much more expensive. We probably have far fewer of them. Even more importantly, we probably have far fewer people capable of using it.
Where is clockboy when you need him?
Theres a lot of government red tape that costs millions of dollars to get through as well. Thats why these companies get monopolies on equipment and medicines. Because good luck getting through the FDA to compete when the last company greased everyones pockets.
I've worked in the medical field with durable medical equipment (DME) for a decade. I can confirm - this is correct.
A lot of markup is to deal with huge inefficiencies due to the amount of regulation and complexities of getting paid. But many keep marking up past what is fair.
This is awesome. I hope the open source project can make it through though. I do safety-critical systems engineering and anything you design will be lucky to take 2 years to get approved. This is a manual ventilator too so I'm not sure how widely it can be deployed. You need someone standing by it 24/7 trained to not pump your stomach to the point you puke into the bag, inhale it and die. Anything helps right now though...
The best thing that can come of this is a generalized realization that you and everyone else is being overcharged thanks to a black box medical system
It's great when cost can be reduced, especially when it's by a LOT.
A ventilator doesn't do you that much good when you're in bad shape with Wuhan flu. Your alveoli thicken so that oxygen doesn't get from your lungs to your bloodstream. (Waste gases aren't eliminated from your blood, either) In this condition a ventilator can't possibly save your life, but it likely will add permanent damage to your lungs should you miraculously survive.
A blood oxygenation machine would make all the difference in this situation. Nobody's talking about these. They're probably much more expensive. We probably have far fewer of them. Even more importantly, we probably have far fewer people capable of using it.
HCQ is a much more sensible solution.
Ah the sweet smell of Capitalism in the morning.
But psychopath Bill Gates prefers a vaccine with Mystery Brand Secret Sauce added.
And the FDA will take 6 years to approve it.