Recall of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Reusable Breathing Circuit

 Posted on February 25, 2013 in Defective Medical Devices

Apnea in Greek means “without breath”. When a person has sleep apnea their breathing involuntarily stops while they are sleeping. This stopping can happen hundreds of times up to a minute or longer at a time. Most of the time the person is not aware of their breathing stopping hence making death a quiet inevitable occurrence when not treated. Statistics show that one out of fifteen people have some sort of case of sleep apnea. However, one out of fifty go undiagnosed. Effects of undiagnosed sleep apnea leads to tiredness, lack of focus during the day, as well as have four times the risk of a stroke and three times to have heart disease. This disease became national news when Reggie White, great defensive-end for the National Football League, December 26, 2004, due to sleep apnea.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Reusable Breathing Circuit has been voluntarily recalled because of the products defective tubes. This class I recall states there are small pin holes in the tubes. Normally, tests are given to each machine prior to patient use to make sure air is not escaping by a standard leak test. If there is a gas leak it can lead to a loss of pressure. Using a defective device can lead to death.

If you have a Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Reusable Breathing Circuit cpap machine, please find a way to get the standard test to check for the leak. If your machine is defective contact a lawyer in Northern Illinois who can assist you in the process.