Heart implant communicates with docs' cellphones

Heart implants that can communicate with, and be programmed from, a remote device over the telephone have been around for awhile, but now we're starting to see pacemakers that actually send real-time updates directly to a doctor's cellphone. An Australian man has recently joined around 30,000 Americans and Europeans who have defibrillators that use an external transmitter to send data to a medical server, which then texts the appropriate doctor with vital information such as heart rhythm. Along with such devices as the DIY EKG kit, ECG shirt, and remotely-operated robot surgeon, this product may help us fulfill our dream of never seeing the inside of a doctor's office again.

[Via Smart Mobs]

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 17th 2006 11:33AM]

shouldn't it be "implant" not impant?

Gary

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 18th 2006 1:12AM]

"programmed from"

I didn't find any additional info on this from the provided links; I hope this doesn't open the door to some type of crazy defibrilator-hacking attacks.

But seeing as I didn't see anything about it, I guess not.