Blind patients with Second Sight's electronic retinal implants are in danger of losing their artificial vision as the tech becomes obsolete and unsupported
Second Sight left users of its retinal implants in the dark — Barbara Campbell was walking through a New York City subway station during rush hour … Tweets: @carnage4life , @stephencass , @earthheiress , @ieeespectrum , @ckundo , @erickam , @aureliacotta , @egypturnash , @msbellows , @evacide , @hpcprogrammer , @mslopatto , @smaffulli , @meharris , @ilyatabakh , @xuhulk , @electric_genie , @lilacsundayblog , and @sokane1 Tweets: @carnage4life : This story is like something out of Black Mirror. Blind people get a high-tech retinal implant that restores their vision somewhat. But the company that produced the implant suddenly goes out of business, and will no longer service or fix their implants. https://spectrum.ieee.org/... @stephencass : A great reporting job by @newsbeagle and @meharris that's a cautionary tale about high-tech implants #SecondSight #blindtech #neurotech https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Asher Jay / @earthheiress : Great article about the scary side of #electroceuticals and how tech solutions can go out of business without a heads up compromising patients with implants! Proving cost prohibitive, functionally obsolescent and rife in undisclosed health consequences. https://spectrum.ieee.org/... @ieeespectrum : Early adopters of a retinal implant for the #blind were caught by surprise when Second Sight discontinued the tech and then almost went bankrupt. #bionic #vision https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Cameron Cundiff / @ckundo : right to repair and open source software takes on new meaning when the hardware is in your body 😬 https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Eric Kam / @erickam : There's probably a @doctorow thread warning about this Friendly benevolent tech bricking their customers implants when business fails Do you think they'll threaten the patients with gratuitous legal harm if they try to restart THEIR EYES without license? https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Aurelia Cotta / @aureliacotta : Wild....and ridiculous because hearing aids and cochlear implants used to cost the same, but they all managed millions in sales, prices came way down. Same for other prosthetics. Same for most drugs. https://twitter.com/... @egypturnash : I am definitely living in the future. Here is a story about some people whose eye implants no longer work because the company that made them fell apart and there are no repairs or spare parts available any more.. https://spectrum.ieee.org/... M.S. Bellows, Jr / @msbellows : A genuinely horrifying story: the company providing retinal implants folded with no notice, and now patients are scrambling for second-hand parts to preserve their vision. “Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported” https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Eva / @evacide : Somehow @GreatDismal did not include “your retinal implant is no longer supported by the company that manufactured it” in his dystopian cyberpunk future, but we sure have it in the dystopian cyberpunk present. https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Fernanda Foertter / @hpcprogrammer : On the ethics of for profit healthcare and the crossroad with compute and software: “[patient] couldn't get an MRI to check for a brain tumor because his doctors couldn't get information about his implant from Second Sight.” https://twitter.com/... Elizabeth Lopatto / @mslopatto : what happens when the company that makes your bionic eye goes bankrupt? https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Stefano Maffulli / @smaffulli : The cyborgs in this story don't control their implants. We accept proprietary software running our phones and TVs but would you want to be at the mercy of a corporation for your heart, legs or eyes? Open source should be mandatory https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Mark Harris / @meharris : New by me & @newsbeagle: How 350 patients were left in the dark when their bionic eyes became obsolete. A deep dive into the economics and ethics of high-tech implants. https://spectrum.ieee.org/... https://twitter.com/... @ilyatabakh : Having an implant that is a key contributor to quality of life go obsolete is a serious problem! Terrific #technology must be matched with equally fantastic #business structures especially as we integrate technologies intimately i... https://www.linkedin.com/... https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Chris Xu / @xuhulk : If you work on technology that people depend on to this degree, how do you not have a plan to open source all of it if you go out of business??? https://twitter.com/... Glenn Zorpette / @electric_genie : Imagine you've got a high-tech implant in your retina that gives you a crude but effective form of vision. Now imagine the company that produced the implant suddenly goes out of business, and will no longer service or fix your implant https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Lilac Sunday / @lilacsundayblog : This is terrible. Second Sight didn't inform any of its patients of the company's collapse. “Those of us with this implant are figuratively and literally in the dark.” https://spectrum.ieee.org/... Sean O'Kane / @sokane1 : My god this story from @newsbeagle and @meharris https://spectrum.ieee.org/...