Living Implants
Image source: Image: https://www.cardiovascular.abbott/us/en/hcp/products/cardiac-rhythm-management/confirm-rx-insertable-cardiac-monitor.html
In June 2018 I was implanted with a ConfirmRx insertable cardiac monitor (ICM) with SharpSense™ technology through Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth, Western Australia.
The device lives inside my left pectoral muscle pointing in through the muscle into my heart cavity. It is noticeable and it was painful for months after it was inserted. It is as it looks … about the size of a small USB stick.
Photo: Alexander Hayes - October 2019 - Site of ConfirmRx implant
The implant ‘talks’ via Bluetooth on my smartphone to the device…or at least thats what the marketing schpiel states:
“… REMOTE MONITORING HAS NEVER BEEN SO ENGAGING - Remote monitoring via smartphone connectivity with an easy-to-use app encourages patient compliance with less disruption to their daily lives.” - Abbot
Under extreme stress from an upcoming court case and with a yet to be diagnosed blood pressure issue I was whisked down from Broome, Western Australia by the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS) and ended up in the cardiac ward.
Photo: Alexander Hayes - 6th June 2018
As you could well imagine in that state I was given a range of diagnosis points to explain why I had collapsed in my car and need to bring down from a 212 / 123 blood pressure reading. I cant say I readily agreed with being implanted however the options of weekly then fortnightly visits to the hospital to have other tests conducted was not appealing either.
As I was told the device tracks;
“… arrhythmias, including syncope, palpitations and AF before or after ablation therapy and cryptogenic stroke—with fewer interruptions to patients’ daily lives.” - Abbot
What I wasn’t informed is that 97% of registered myMerlin™ for Confirm Rx™ mobile app users transmitted at least once. Some other statistics include;
1.6 days is the average time between transmissions;
Data is proactively transmitted by the myMerlin for Confirm Rx mobile app per a schedule set by your clinic;
The app automatically informs patients of successful device checks and clinic-scheduled transmissions or notifies them when one has been missed;
Patients can send patient-triggered symptoms to the clinic without the need to wait for a nightly sync with a traditional transmitter.
Upon discharge from the hospital feeling like I’d been punctured and under a constant monitoring regime from the device (yes….definite personal liberty loss feelings) I noted that the implant would not ‘pair’ with my smartphone. No matter which configuration I attempted it would not return to a pairing profile.
I recall early on in the piece feeling like something had taken part of my soul away.
The cognisance of the bruising pain on the implant and the fact that it often came up in conversations with others gave me a sense of alienation or distancing in some manner. Add to that the fact that what it was purported to monitor didn’t resolve anything didn’t help my pattern of thinking.
Cutting a long story short, after months of this device and its app failing and the data extraction process fiasco at the hospital (upon return) I ended up not trying to connect the device to the app after repeat attempts following technicians (from Malaysia). This all ended up in a tangle with a formal complaint being lodged by me to the Fiona Stanley Hospital Registrar and seeking information under FOI.
Letter Extract: 4th February, 2019.
So with nothing resolved and almost a year passed and a billion other more important things to do I’m still walking around with a ‘dead’ or at least disconnected implant embedded in my chest. No one from the hospital has bothered to contact me direct and I’m trying to get a PhD written up so its on the back burner till this thesis is in.
With the talk of #futures and #medical #implants arising on Twitter I thought I’d post this as a reminder to myself to one day soon write a short paper and add it to the last which I published through Harvard Dataverse titled - Cheating Death: Inflammation, Pain & Living With Ankylosing Spondylitis.
Abstract: Ankylosing Spondylitis is a medical condition which causes inflammation and pain with a range of symptoms that affect a small percentage of the human population. This short paper provides a personal account of these symptoms and associated musculoskeletal intervention by rheumatologists I have experienced over a thirty year period. The paper seeks to bring awareness as a case example for others to better understand how to recognise, seek medical assistance and manage this debilitating condition which can lead to severe disability. There are no known cures for this condition yet there are many preventative measures which may assist in alleviating often debilitating effects of this condition. Clinical trials (limited AU trials) of the biopharmaceutical Etanercept (also known as Enbrel) are looking promising for Ankylosing Spondylitis. (2016-06-30)
My take on these medical implants is that with a complete lack of continuity of medical care the corporations who harvest this data are taking away my identity and profiting from my condition without my consent (they will argue I gave them that and that they provided me an assurance of medical monitoring in return). No doubt when the implant is removed the entire dataset will be expunged from the device anyway or as they claim ‘only 7 seconds as a loop recorder’.
My techno skepticism is based on fact. I was medically implanted and the results were inconclusive except for one minor detail.
Research into the social and ethical implications of Uberveillance are as hot a topic as any other contemporaneous issue and challenge for humanity, now and into the near future.
PS. I cannot enter an airport body scanner and as a result I have been ‘patted down’ every time I’m passing through these gates. Goes without saying that when you have become a walking battery there will be an unseen liability for those who don’t know whether you are machine or human.
