• Mahray (unregistered)

    Thus breaching the end user agreement.

  • X (unregistered)

    Remy forgot to close

  • TVJohn (unregistered)

    It does seem like fleecing. On the other hand I imagine the major cost would be in getting all the devices certified as safe to work in the environs of such a strong magnetic field. I have a friend who works in specialist devices for explosive atmospheres and much the same applies there.

  • Little Bobby Tables (unregistered)

    Must be nice to get the day off. Wish I was lucky enough to get a few days off this week.

  • Dlareg (unregistered) in reply to TVJohn

    Hahah that reminds me. I volunteer at the local shooting-range and there we have a 8k euro sparkfree vacuum cleaner to clean the floor of Gun shot residue. Then I showed them a water vacuum cleaner. Minds blown.

  • (nodebb)

    This is why healthcare costs are through the roof.

  • Loren Pechtel (google) in reply to TVJohn

    I don't see what the big certification issue would be here. It's not like the power supply has to function in the MRI tube, it's going to be some distance away. And note that it's inside a metal box, the stuff inside is pretty much shielded from the field. Furthermore, it's not something whose failure compromises the machine or poses a danger to the patient.

  • X (unregistered) in reply to X

    Interesting. I wrote Ellis in my comment which seems to have been corrected to Remy by moderator?

  • Jarfil (unregistered)

    Power supplies are not all made the same, even if they're all Chinese made. The $10 one may look the same on a multimeter, but have nowhere the same ripple suppression, overvoltage and short protection, especially under load. Some will even be happy to push live AC to the output!

    Maybe $1500 is really a ripoff, but replacing it with a $10 cheapo one reeks of negligence.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Mahray

    Oh noes! That means iIt's not covered by the warranty any more!

  • Object delete. (unregistered) in reply to StarSword C

    Actually, this is peanuts. Really expensive is the insurance against some patient hitting the maltreatment jackpot.

  • Cat (unregistered)

    @Loren - The biggest danger would be in the types of metals used, and that can be an extreme danger. If the case of the new power supply was any kind of ferromagnetic metal, the strength of the magnetic field could be such that the magnetic could pull the device into the bore. Patients have been killed when steel objects accidentally brought into an MRI room have been accelerated to speeds of hundreds of miles per hour.

    Further, it could be a hidden danger, if this headphone system was originally used in a room with a smaller magnet, say a 1.5T scanner, and then moved to a room with a 3T (or the crazy new 7T) scanners. Even if the smaller magnet was pulling strongly on the power supply, it might not have been enough to tear it free, while a stronger magnet could.

    It's grossly negligent to operate any equipment in an MRI room that hasn't been designed and tested for that environment. That's also almost certainly the reason for the gluing together of disparate power supplies - it's cheaper to take four already-certified products and tie them together versus develop and pay for the testing and certification of a new product. I guarantee you any random power supply off Amazon hasn't been tested in that kind of magnetic field.

    This sounds like penny wise and pound foolish, in that $1500 is far cheaper than the millions of dollars in legal liability he's exposing his employers to.

  • bobcat (unregistered) in reply to Dlareg

    You have of course seen the recent video of the police shooting range that did NOT vacuum the floors?

  • Brian Boorman (google)

    I can tell you that does not meet UL nor CE Mark standards.

  • Dlareg (unregistered) in reply to bobcat

    Actually not, but a quick google gave me the video. H*** S**t. I think I'll vacuum tomorrow. I have seen some slow fire walking through the hall. But this another level!

  • Mike (unregistered)

    From the story, we don't know if was used the same make and model of cheap chinese power supply. There also cheap chinese power supplies that are certified for medical use like these, found googlig 30 seconds. https://www.xppower.com/Product/AEM-Series https://www.power-win.com/en/product-c29997/200W-Medical-Adapter.html

    Even for not-specifically medical appoved computer parts, if you swap for the same part you'll don't lose the certification.

  • waldo (unregistered) in reply to Mike

    When our GE CT scanner 4X Sony SCSI CD drive failed the nearest part was in Chicago, not available for 3 days, had to be a Sony, we used a surplus NEC drive as a temp fix until the GE supplied TEAC replacement arrived. They couldn't buy Sony anymore so they used equivalent. They will be $1,000 for drive.

  • Quirkafleeg (unregistered)

    Sounds like that company found the Apple Pricing Model document...

  • Omar N (unregistered) in reply to Mahray

    Sure they're not branded Apple?

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