The new iPhone could disable your pacemaker or implanted defibrillator
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KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV/KSMO) — The new iPhone 12 could potentially interfere with pacemakers or implantable defibrillators.
Each year, more than 300,000 people in the United States undergo surgery to implant a pacemaker or defibrillator, which uses electricity to keep the heart beating or shock it into a normal rhythm.
Dr. Sanjaya Gupta, cardiologist and electro-physiologist, at Saint Luke’s Mid American Heart Institute, explains these devices are engineered to be controlled by a magnetic switch , to avoid additional, unnecessary surgery.
“That was originally done as a safety feature if there was a fracture in one of the wires or malfunction of the device, causing to shock inappropriately … a doctor can take a magnet and place it over the device and thereby disable the device.”
So, when the new iPhone 12 was released — touting a magnet so strong , you could actually attach it to your refrigerator. It made scientists wonder… and sure enough, a test showed it can, indeed , disable implanted cardiac devices.
Cardiologists and the FDA are planning more independent testing on this potential lethal combination — but, apple has already published a statement noting that the magnets and electromagnetic fields in the iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and MagSafe accessories might interfere with medical devices.
Doctors are advising patients with these phones to avoid storing them in their breast pocket and always more than six inches away from your implanted device.
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