What would happen to CI if the company went out of business?

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Lighthouse77

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And they stop making your processors and the ones you have broke. How do you handle the situation?
 
Oh that's a good question. maybe some of them would have a difficult time to get snap out of it for a long time. :dunno:

i know I watch tv too much. One show, or i must image about it too much from watching it. But i was sure that i did watch one show. there were about people who have artificial heart that some bad guy used the remote control to set it to stop them from running operations that caused those people with artificial heart functions stop and drop dead. then, it could happen to those people who have CI to stop functioning properly by a bad guy with the powerful remote control. eh.
 
That's scary and very cruel.

I was reading about CI from a gov't site and it listed all the risks. And one of the risk it listed that the company could go out of business and they may not make your brand anymore.
 
there was a special on TLC or Discovery about a woman who was blind and elected to become an experiment of sorts.. this guys wired into her brain a vision-system (similiar in theory to CI i guess, but straight into occipital lobe for vision). Anyway, the man who was doing it died before he got to finish activating all the leads, but no one had told the woman b/c they thought it would destroy her. They just left her to believe that she needed to wait. I'll try to find the name of the show...

*EQL*
 
One implant company is in Australia... If America made better implants and people start buying them instead of Australia, would the country Australia let them buy their company?
 
Lighthouse77 said:
One implant company is in Australia... If America made better implants and people start buying them instead of Australia, would the country Australia let them buy their company?
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Not until the Americans agree to meet their standard of quality and that the money offered is very, very good.

I doubt it'd happen because Australia has a huge investment in keeping the CI company local.

What is more likely- Australia comes into the US and buyout the failing CI companies and transform the business for the better.
 
as I understand it you can just get another brand of processors and the innards are pretty mutch the same for all people the newer ones have just have more electrodes. I have read about people changing processors
 
Buffalo said:
Can the outside part fit the inside part if both are different brands??? Or the patient would have to be re-implanted?
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No, you can not switch the make of the external processor with a different manufacture since the technology used are quite different. You can upgrade the processor to work with the older internal model.
 
Miss-Delectable said:
Not until the Americans agree to meet their standard of quality and that the money offered is very, very good.

I doubt it'd happen because Australia has a huge investment in keeping the CI company local.

What is more likely- Australia comes into the US and buyout the failing CI companies and transform the business for the better.
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You'll never know. Some people are complaining about ACE program being outdated and are looking into other companies. You have to be aware that as more CI companies are out there, the less money they get. You can make sure that the Locals only get the local CI, but then can you prevent them from asking for CI from other countries because they think it is the best?
 
I probably would have it removed out of my head and seek for other options such as stem cells (that if it ever happens). If not then (learn to) enjoy the silence again and be thankful that I still do sign. Gotta be optimistic about it otherwise dragging me down won't do me any good.
 
Buffalo said:
Can the outside part fit the inside part if both are different brands??? Or the patient would have to be re-implanted?
Click to expand...

I am sure that the company that takes over a failed one would continue to carry parts, etc of the failed company.....no?
 
Cochlear is the Australian company and Bionic Ear is the one based in California. BE has had some recall/failure problems due to body fluids leaking into the internal processor (they also changed the silicon-based internal processor sealant w/o telling the FDA and got their fingers slapped also). Cochlear (the Australian company) has a fairly large operation that is base here in the US (their US corporate headquarters is right down the road from where I live) and I've gone to them to help in some mapping studies they have done. From what I know I don't think they will be folding anytime soon. BE I don't know about but they have had some issues with the reliability of their processors.

The external processors would probably not be compatible between makers and I don't know if one company would buy out the other and keep on supporting the ones no longer made if it came to that. For myself, if I heard there were a chance that the maker of my implant processor were going out of business I'd go see my audie and see about getting a backup processor ASAP.

BTW my sister had one of the first Cochlear impalnts in the US almost 20 years ago. She kept upgrading her processor until the Freedom 22 (what I have) but they told her the Freedom would no longer be compatible with her internal processor/implant (7 channels not 24). She is stuck with her present external processor but Cochlear will continue to support that one for as long as she need to. Considering it's a 20 year old internal processor that's not too bad a deal.

My two cents.
 
john57 said:
No, you can not switch the make of the external processor with a different manufacture since the technology used are quite different. You can upgrade the processor to work with the older internal model.
Click to expand...

So if a company went kaput, the CIer has no choice but to be re-implanted if his CI broke.
 
If that where to happen we would not be left out in the cold. The threat of law suits alone would force the company to address that issue.

If for example Cochlear closed down. I'd imagine it would be taken up by someone else. Those who already have a CI will not have to have another surgery. That's just not the way the world works. Most likely a new company would be granted the ability to make their implants work with the internal implant.

I just don't want this to become another reason for people to say, "Don't get the cochlear implant. What if the company went out of business?". It's not going to happen that way. There's a market for it. People are still going to get them. They know this and will not jeopardize that market. If one closed down another will rise when they see the opening. And they won't want to loose the customers they already have so those who already have the implant will be taken into consideration.

Ron Jaxon
 
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