As technology continues to advance and healthcare becomes more digital, more privacy and security concerns start to come with it. This recall of a wirelessly controlled insulin pump is a prime example. According to the FDA:

Medtronic is recalling the specified insulin pumps due to potential cybersecurity risks. An unauthorized person (someone other than a patient, patient caregiver, or health care provider) could potentially record and replay the wireless communication between the remote and the MiniMed insulin pump. This person could instruct the pump to either over-deliver insulin to a patient, leading to low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), or stop insulin delivery, leading to high blood sugar and diabetic ketoacidosis, even death.

Luckily, the FDA is not aware of any actual cyber instances that caused any harm to a patient.

These risks were announced by the FDA back on June 27, 2019, but today the FDA is announcing it is a Class I recall, “the most serious type of recall.”

Read the full announcement here: fda.gov.

Thanks for reading!

—

Richard Waithe, PharmD | Richard@vucahealth.com

President | VUCA Health

Host | Rx Radio Podcast

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