[News] RECALL THREAD-- IMPORTANT PHILIPS DREAMSTATION & SYSTEM ONE USERS

[Ghandi]

i'm glad i switched to resmed last years but my previous dreamstation is on the recall. i hope i have not suffered any damages! I hope there is a class action taken!

[Guilhermedico]

i'm glad i switched to resmed last years but my  previous dreamstation is on the recall. i hope i have not suffered any damages! I hope there is a class action taken!

There is at least one class action lawsuit being considered in the U.S.  [direct link to commercial legal website removed], and other forum members have indicated that there may be more. 

That said, your profile indicates that you are located in Canada. I am not an attorney but I always assumed class action lawsuits were restricted to litigants residing in the country where they are filed. Would a Canadian or other ex-United States class action need to be filed within the jurisdiction(s) of the affected parties who are plaintiffs to the suit? Perhaps someone with more legal knowledge and/or experience can correct this if my assumption is incorrect.

A link to one Canadian law firm apparently considering such a suit did come up, [direct link to commercial legal website removed]  but the link is dead, at least when we attempted to click on the link from within the U.S. Let us know if this link is active when you click on it from Canada.

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[buddy0329]

I do not see what else I can do.

Rich

Please stop spamming the forum with this nonsense.  Post after post filled with ridiculous jibber-jabber about your model building, carpentry skills , automotive garage experience, etc.  It's not helpful.  I realize I am contributing to the nonsense simply by responding, but I am going mad reading this nonsense in what should be a serious and sober thread about a medical device recall.

[racprops]

Risk:

I do my own car repairs, I do my own brake repairs.

I KNOW what I am doing, I trust me, I never had a repair fail and never had a brake failure.

I have had failures when others have done work, nearly lost an engine when PepBoys worker failed to tighten the oil drain bolt.

I do my own plumbing and electrical work. I live with risk and I know how to consider risks.

After so many years of seeing doctors whom on five times send me to the Emergency Room from bad reactions to prescription drugs leaned to watch them and my own reactions when under treatment.

They make mistakes..all too often. Some are life threatening, some were!

I am 100% sure I made the right move opening the case and removing the foam.

Good luck with your truth.

Rich

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Tell all the others to stop talking about me and my so called dumb move of removing the foam and I will have no need to defend my self.

[OpalRose]

Ok folk, I really hate to jump in here, but I guess it's necessary.

Some of you are coming very close to violating one of our policies/rules.  It's ok to discuss or voice your opinions in a respectful way as long as you are not attacking another member.  We may not agree with one another on how a problem is handled, but everyone has the right to do what they see as right or necessary for themselves.  

On Apnea Board, ad hominem attacks against forum members are prohibited.  When participating in the forums, please discuss the concepts, ideas and topics themselves, rather than attacking a forum member's person or character.

Thanks for your understanding. This is a serious topic and affects people in different ways, so be patient and respectful.

[Ghandi]

i'm glad i switched to resmed last years but my  previous dreamstation is on the recall. i hope i have not suffered any damages! I hope there is a class action taken!

There is at least one class action lawsuit being considered in the U.S., [direct link to commercial legal website removed] and other forum members have indicated that there may be more. 

That said, your profile indicates that you are located in Canada. I am not an attorney but I always assumed class action lawsuits were restricted to litigants residing in the country where they are filed. Would a Canadian or other ex-United States class action need to be filed within the jurisdiction(s) of the affected parties who are plaintiffs to the suit? Perhaps someone with more legal knowledge and/or experience can correct this if my assumption is incorrect.

A link to one Canadian law firm apparently considering such a suit did come up,  [direct link to commercial legal website removed] but the link is dead, at least when we attempted to click on the link from within the U.S. Let us know if this link is active when you click on it from Canada.

Thx. Nope  it doesn't work from here either. 

I'll keep my eyes wide open and if i find anything i'll post it here!

[plasticplumber]

Here is my two cents.

Philips are ducking the issue and trying to deflect the blame.

1. Put the blame on the use of Ozone and you deminish your accountability and hence your liability when the class actions inevertably land. Ozone at low level is still a useful source of purification and is used to purify air in some ventilation systems. So at what level do Philips consider it to be detrimental to their equipment. When did it become aware of the problem? When did they advise against its use and what damage to eqipment had they discovered at the time of advising against the use of Ozone? Ozone is used domesticaly for full house treatment in parts of Asia and I believe has been used in the USA to a lesser extent. Ozone is out there and we breath it every day. Facts and levels are important we haven't got any.

2. Tell the users to stop using the machine and then say but speak with your Dr about the risk while at the same time not indicating to the Dr what the actual risk from their product is. This means that no Dr can possibly make that decision for you. He may know that the person on a ventilator is at the highest or higher risk level but without detail where does risk againt benefit of stopping lie? How can any Dr decide on a break even point there are no facts. You stop using the machine then go out to work in your car or 40 ton truck and fall asleep kill yourself and a load of others. You are responsible! or you don't go to work who pays the bills. Not Philips it's your decision! You carry on using a machine that can kill you but you do not know what the risk is . You become severly ill or die from an acociated cancer it's your decision! but it's a decision Philips will not give you the information to enable you to make that decision.

Rant over

Out of interest in the UK you need to notify the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority if you need to use a CPAP machine and would find yourself in breach of the law and uninsured if you fail to use the machine for the recomended time. Brick and a hard place.

The UK is again been treated at a lower level than in the United States I assume because Philips considers that it can get away with more over here. It may find it has made a mistake with that because the UK is changing and although late to the table our legal proffesion is now getting to grips with these issues i.e VW and Merc fuel and C0 emmision issues.

I have used Philips eqipment since 2013 have never smoked but have developed upper airway issues with associated mucus production, I have suffered headaches nasal congestion and mouth problems particularly over the last 16 months since I changed to the Dreamstation. I never considered that something like this may be the cause. I did keep a Journal in Oscar virtualy from the day I started, one that charts my love hate relationship with the various masks and equipment so I do know there was a big change when I got my new machine in fact it is only this last week that things finaly seemed to be settling down and me feeling good. 

I stopped using the Dreamstation last night after a 99.9% compliance so a decision as wether to continue or discontinue will have to be made soon but to reiterate we need to know the risks. I am at the lower end of those needing to use APAP and at one stage was advised to come off anyway but found that I became very irritable without my machine but never fell asleep watching TV or driving I think I was addicted.

I never used Ozone as a cleaner.

[mesenteria]

Whathisname in Regina didn't jump all over this?  He was Mr. Class Action for about 20 years.  Tony Merchant. Must have retired.

[racprops]

plasticplumber

I wanted to say thank you for your well written and insightful post.

I have said in a number of posts I feared they were not doing any recalls in other countries because the laws are not as strong there.

You have helped show that is a very good possibility.

To read that you sick and that your Dreamstation might be the cause sickens me.

You said "I have used Philips eqipment since 2013 have never smoked but have developed upper airway issues with associated mucus production, I have suffered headaches nasal congestion and mouth problems particularly over the last 16 months since I changed to the Dreamstation. I never considered that something like this may be the cause. I did keep a Journal in Oscar virtualy from the day I started, one that charts my love hate relationship with the various masks and equipment so I do know there was a big change when I got my new machine in fact it is only this last week that things finaly seemed to be settling down and me feeling good."


your post "Out of interest in the UK you need to notify the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Authority if you need to use a CPAP machine and would find yourself in breach of the law and uninsured if you fail to use the machine for the recomended time. Brick and a hard place.

The UK is again been treated at a lower level than in the United States I assume because Philips considers that it can get away with more over here. It may find it has made a mistake with that because the UK is changing and although late to the table our legal proffesion is now getting to grips with these issues i.e VW and Merc fuel and C0 emmision issues."

Sadly covers this very well.

I am aware that many cannot afford to go out and buy a replacement sleep machine, and I also fear but have not seen any evidence of this but I figure ResMed machines may be in short supply as millions that can make the switch will.

And as much as I hate to point this out but Resmed may not face the level of legal trouble as does Phillips does here within the US as they are based in Australia.

I have done all I can do.

What anyone does is up to them.

My heart and my prayers go out to all of use with this nightmare. My self included. Lucky I live in dry AZ and have A/C so my home and my machine is never over 90 degrees, and I too never used one of those worthless cleaning systems.

So far I seen to have no problems, and found no dust in my water tanks of in the two systems I open up.

I also pray we do not find a Ford Gate here. Where a memo from inside Ford showed they decided it was cost effective to take the losses from law suits that SPEND THE MONEY to fix the cars.

Consider that is seems Phillips may have known of this problem three OR more years ago.

At this time I fear all sleep systems.

Rich

[racprops]

Here is a thought and question.

It has been hinted that some of the Dreamstations are NOT subject to the recall.

It also has been hinted that some of the Dreamstations were made in Japan and have a serial number with JP in it.

So has anyone here found their Dreamstation is not being recalled??

If so how old is it.

And does the serial number contain JP??

And if JP in in the serial number has all of them been recalled??

It is possible they started replacing the foam a little while ago thus newer units are good to go.

It also may matter which factory made them.

Rich