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evacide

A brain implant changed a woman's life, helping her to manage to her epilepsy. Then the company that made the implant went under and the implant was removed against her will. This is the grim meathook future we were promised and I hate it.

technologyreview.com/2023/05/2

24 comments
joeziehmer

@coleens_ @evacide I hate crony capitalism as much as I hate Calvinism. It gave way for thinking practices like this were not morally bankrupt and reprehensible. They’d knee cap Jesus and demand he pay for replacements.

James Bennett

@jacobrogers256 The patient and the research team which was developing and trialing the implant were both Australian according to the article.

Australia already has a nationalized single-payer Medicare system.

Jacob the Jacobin🌹🕊️🏳️‍🌈

@ubernostrum nationalize research, pharma and the medical device industry.

Staid Winnow

@evacide

The rich want free lab monkeys. With no legal responsibilities.

Edwin Young

@staidwinnow @evacide I don't think that's a particularly accurate description of what happened here. Ms Leggett suffered from huge problems from her epilepsy and volunteered for an early-stage clinical trial. The device worked well for her but not well enough across all trial participants to get approval for wider use. The article isn't exactly clear why it had to be removed but it seems for safety reasons rather than being repossessed by heartless capitalists.

Staid Winnow

@edyoung @evacide

My comment is more general than that. Free lab monkey and insulation from legal troubles seems to apply though.

Dr. Flowers

@evacide Wasn’t that the premise of the movie Repo Men? @scm

Jonathan Carreño

@evacide Holy shit. Is there any way we could crowdfund a new country? Buy back Alaska or something like that.

joeziehmer

@evacide It’s objectivism and a mixture of capitalism and Calvinism at work. So, many of those in larger corporations talk about Christianity while believing themselves in predestination. When the self-imposed purity is removed all they are, are corporate harlots. Married to sin and vice. I know my views might offend some in religious leanings, I’m a liberal Baptist.

DELETED

@evacide Given that the FDA has cleared Musk’s bacteria animal-cruelty chop shop to start human trials, the awful and terrifying issues brought up here feel especially relevant.

James Wu

@evacide we could have learned this lesson decades ago.

The FREEHAND system was a successful neuroprosthetic approved in 1987. It changed the lives of ~250 patients; dozens implanted / yr.

They became victims when investors pushed for more scale, and the business failed in an expansion effort.

Without maintenance, patients became the victims of a medical device orphaned market. Many described the experience as feeling like re-suffering their traumatic injuries as a result.

diagram: the freehand system by neurocontrol corporation, with stimulator and coil and joystick implanted in shoulder, and electrodes in forearm / hand muscles
What happened to the FREEHAND System?
If it worked so well, why is it no longer on the marketplace?
As a permanent implant, it is still being used by majority of approximately 250 implanted patients worldwide.
Patients overwhelmingly adopted it for daily function.
Patients and docs still ask for it.
No company exists to support their on-going use.
CWRU FES Center supports users as much as possible.
"I will note the 9th of September 2006 as the date when I got a spinal cord injury for a second time!"
NeuroControl's demise left the group of disbanded patients scrambling for information and scavenging for replacement parts as theirs began to wear out. Many, the publication reported, saw paralysis settle back into their limbs while about 65 continue to have use of their limbs.
Mark Gardner

@evacide It’s a horrible story but the “ethicists” don’t understand #ethics. They pit Leggett’s “#NeuroRights” against the #rights of doctors, researchers, and device manufacturers.

It’s the same with all the other immoral but pervasive pushes for the “right” to #HealthCare.

#IndividualRights (there are no others) don’t conflict. If you’re talking about conflicting interests you’re not talking about rights.

More here: westandfirm.org/Peikoff-01.htm (video: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiV)

@evacide It’s a horrible story but the “ethicists” don’t understand #ethics. They pit Leggett’s “#NeuroRights” against the #rights of doctors, researchers, and device manufacturers.

It’s the same with all the other immoral but pervasive pushes for the “right” to #HealthCare.

#IndividualRights (there are no others) don’t conflict. If you’re talking about conflicting interests you’re not talking about rights.

Mark Gardner

@evacide I realize I’m spitting into the hurricane of both fediverse subculture and the culture at large with these views

Mark Gardner

@evacide I haven’t, sorry. I don’t think I’d like him based on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Webe, though

Kristian Horwood :verified_paw:

@evacide tracks very closely to the nightmare future envisioned in so many cyberpunk stories.

Jamie

@evacide it was done because the company went bankrupt, not her, but I am still getting very Repo: The Genetic Opera vibes from this.

Jamie

@evacide the Zydrate comes in a little glass vial (A little glass vial?).

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