Put pressure on vendors after medical equipment mishaps

When it comes to medical device problems that don’t injure patients, exert some leverage back on your vendors in the absence of any regulatory structure.

I imagine that in the contractual relationships you have with vendors, they are on the hook to provide you with appropriately maintained equipment. I think that a vendor would at least be concerned about what happened. Are there aspects of a problem that would be reportable as a function of the Safe Medical Devices Act or even to alert the device manufacturer?

I would hope that, in the spirit of patient safety and good business practice, a vendor who sold you some questionable equipment would be as keen as you to identify what had happened and to ensure that the risks of a repeat occurrence are minimized to the extent possible.

From a practical standpoint, if a piece of medical equipment gives you a problem, be sure to remove it from service and leave it in the condition it was originally in when the event occurred (any alterations would make it most difficult to be sure you’ve identified the root cause).

Do you have an agreement with the vendor that involves specific expectations for the equipment, such as preventive maintenance? And do you periodically audit the vendor’s records and performance to ensure that the services provided are acceptably up to your standards.

Ultimately the burden is yours, but there’s no reason to continue to do business with folks that don’t support you in very way possible.