Should Medical Devices Come with Expiration Dates?

The concept of an expiration date was created to help consumers realize when a product should be discarded. The concept has taken hold and has become an expected and regular part of daily decision-making for people around the world. Though the concept can be misused, it has merit because the manufacturer knows best when it comes to the shelf life or useful life of a product! Shelf life is supposed to be assessed by the manufacturers using a scientific analysis of the product to determine when the key chemical(s) within the product lose effectiveness and/or the compound changes composition and becomes something else. We know that electronics and technology also have expiration dates. In the world of software, manufacturers, including Microsoft, stop supporting a product after it has reached its useful life. Even though I was content with using Windows XP, Microsoft forced me to convert and upgrade. Regardless of how much a consumer likes a product, manufacturers determine they cannot continue to support it and make it as safe and productive as their new platform in light of the changing world of software that now includes more sophisticated challenges, including hackers and terminal viruses. However, in the world of hardware, we seem to take risks. Our solution for aging hardware is to back it up and run it at risk. We all know that the hard disk, CPU, power supply, and the electronics have a failing point, but we insist on letting it run out its life and hope that w...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Medical Device Business Source Type: news