Medical devices can be hacked, for good or evil, as I’ve commented earlier. In addition, the devices can be subject to random EMI events. According to Benchmark Reporter, a recent study has shown that patients using a pacemaker should keep their smartphones away from it.

Tasnuva Rahim quotes Carsten Lennerz of the German Heart Centre in Munich as saying, “Pacemakers can mistakenly detect electromagnetic interference (EMI) from smartphones as a cardiac signal, causing them to briefly stop working. This leads to a pause in the cardiac rhythm of the pacing-dependent patient and may result in syncope. For implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) the external signal mimics a life threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmia, leading the ICD to deliver a painful shock.”

Current recommendations, Rahim reports, suggest keeping 15 to 20 cm between smartphones and pacemakers or ICDs.

And if you are designing medical devices, make sure you’re up-do-date on EMC requirements. Read “Strict EMC rules aim for secure healthcare environment” by Bruce Fagley of TÜV Rheinland in our June issue.