Should indie medical-device techs have the ‘right to repair’?
Without proper documentation, tools, keys, or parts, skilled technicians can’t always complete repairs. And without enough authorized technicians, device users can suffer delays.
This article originally appeared in The Parallax.
Kenny Maestas, a single dad and quadriplegic in Lamar, Colo., has depended on a wheelchair to get around since injuring his spine in December 1987.
When his chair’s battery died in December 2019, an anticipated 35-day wait for a new battery stretched to 63 days because the wheelchair manufacturer couldn’t get an official technician to him sooner. Adding insult to injury, he said, the manufacturer refused to provide documentation required to independently install the new battery he’d ordered.
Maestas told his story on March 25 to the Colorado state legislature in hopes of convincing it to pass a “right to repair” law requiring electronic-equipment manufacturers to “make available to an independent repair provider or owner of the manufacturer’s equipment any documentation, parts, embedded software, firmware, or tools that are intended for use with the digital electronic equipment, including updates to documentation, information, or embedded software.”
Later that day, the Colorado House Committee of Business Affairs and Labor voted 12 to 1 to indefinitely postpone the bill, effectively killing it. Monica Duran, a Democrat representing part of Jefferson County, said she had “questions” and “concerns”; no committee member stated a specific question or concern about the proposed legislation.
Legal fights over device use and access are commonly framed around consumer electronics, but they can also affect medical devices. In Colorado—and across the United States—independent technicians lack legal levers to force manufacturers to provide or sell access to tools, documentation, and parts needed to repair medical devices ranging from electronic wheelchairs to insulin pumps.
"Manufacturers sometimes stop repairing devices, but they watched what Apple did, and the life span is constantly shrinking. When they come out with a new model, they stop supporting the old one and force you to replace it. People complain about health care being expensive. Well, follow the money." —Paul Kelley, director of biomedical engineering, Washington Hospital, Fremont, Calif.
In 2018, the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates medical devices, issued a report in support of right-to-repair policies, saying biomedical technicians are “critical to the functioning of the U.S. health care system” because they “provide high-quality, safe, and effective servicing of medical devices.”
The same year, the Federal Trade Commission sided with consumers and independent technicians on similar issues, warning manufacturers that limiting consumer warranties can run afoul of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, and that they may not require specific parts or services to be used in the repair of a device.