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

[btreger]

RE>above<

Would we be wrong to assume this was sent to you Tim?

Not bad for your first post

[hegel]

I got a notification about joining a class action suit around this issue in my mailbox. I assume hundreds of thousands of these have been sent out. PR doubtless saw this and wanted to get in their two cents; that is: anyone looking to cash in on a possible settlement by claiming injuries that haven't occurred will be putting themselves at risk of further legal action on PR's part.

[btreger]

RE Post # 1879

After re-reading this post there are several things that stick out, at least to me.


"Dear Former Employee,

We are writing to you because you are a former employee who has had involvement in the development, testing, and/or recalls of Philips’ Continuous and Non-Continuous Ventilators, including the CPAP and BiPAP machines".

If this was a letter sent from Philips or their legal representatives where is the letterhead?

There is no real name used, just a former employee. You would expect more formal addressing of a former employee, their real name.

The job responsibilities are very broad and not specific to a specific person.

Maybe this is just the way Philips does things just not very professional.

[TimaaaaaaaahRocks]

RE Post # 1879

After re-reading this post there are several things that stick out, at least to me.


"Dear Former Employee,

We are writing to you because you are a former employee who has had involvement in the development, testing, and/or recalls of Philips’ Continuous and Non-Continuous Ventilators, including the CPAP and BiPAP machines".

If this was a letter sent from Philips or their legal representatives where is the letterhead?

There is no real name used, just a former employee. You would expect more formal addressing of a former employee, their real name.

The job responsibilities are very broad and not specific to a specific person.

Maybe this is just the way Philips does things just not very professional.

"There is no real name used, just a former employee. You would expect more formal addressing of a former employee, their real name." The name was real, I removed it for this post. Score one for PR, they know how to address a letter.  

Its real dude, very, very real and unsettling. If you have any doubts ask the sender. The letters were sent to some former employees using snail mail, some were sent by email, to personal email accounts. We started a facebook group, invite only for now.      

This is my favorite line:   "As a legal matter, you are under no obligation to cooperate or discuss anything with these lawyers, plaintiffs, or government agencies."

Because sandbagging a government agency trying to protect the public health and safety is the right thing to do.  Surrrrre, I'll take very bad legal advice from some shill attorney for the seemingly very guilty party, surrrre.  

If or when I get a subpoena from the FDA I can just ignore it right?  Ms Kunkle needs to by a clue. Terrific legal advice this is NOT!  I am still shocked that anyone, let alone "the head of legal" would write and disseminate such rubbish. The ignorance at PR knows no bounds.  

[WakeUpTime]

You certainly know how to light up a thread with that new piece of evidence.  

If just one former (or current) employee comes forward with what they heard, or a copy of a previous e-mail or report, that would certainly be worth tens (or hundreds) of millions in penalties and compensation for all recalled device users as a result of any corporate misconduct.  I think there'll be at least one eventually.  I'm reminded of the Philips corporate shake-up and "early retirements" announced shortly after the Recall.  Two of those senior executives were in great positions to 'know all' about the faulty foam.  This might eventually be an interesting movie, although I'd enjoy it more if I weren't one of the parties affected by the Philips Recall (non-legally speaking).

Dear << Former Philips Employee >>,
...
Wendy Kunkle

Head of Legal

Philips RS North America LLC

1010 Murry Ridge Lane, Murrysville, PA 15668

781-779-5673 (cell phone)

wendy.kunkle@philips.com

It's not the kind of internal letter that you'd expect from a company with 'nothing to hide'.  Wendy may get a few e-mails or calls from recalled device owners regarding her letter of intimidation.  

I suppose there wasn't a subject (or Re: ____) attached to that letter.  If one would assign one, hypothetically, it might be something like "RE: Keeping Your Mouth Shut", along with a company byline:  "Philips' Team of Lawyers Can Work With You, or Against You - It's Your Choice."  That clearly was the message.  With whistleblower protections, and knowing Philips' legal team is going to be quite busy over the next 12-24 months, it's pretty safe for anyone to come forward.  Besides, they'd be a public hero.

[TimaaaaaaaahRocks]

If just one former (or current) employee comes forward with what they heard, or a copy of a previous e-mail or report, that would certainly be worth tens (or hundreds) of millions in penalties and compensation for all recalled device users as a result of any corporate misconduct.  

This would all be unbelievably humorous if it weren't for the millions of patients PR damaged. Lets be nice. Wendy has a crap job to do, poor girl. Defending 13+ years of potentially criminal activity and trying to limit the bleeding are not small tasks. 

According to the FDA’s inspection, there were warnings from inside the company. This included "at least 14 tests or assessments" from as early as 2016 where Philips’ staff were “aware of issues and concerns related to potential foam degradation.”

There were internal emails that FDA inspectors cite including one in 2015 from an employee of Philips to the company’s raw foam supplier that “implies that a customer made [Phillips] aware of polyester polyurethane foam degradation issues,” the report said.  

An analysis of consumer complaints sent to the company revealed that since 2008, Philips Respironics had received "over 222,000 complaints" that included the keywords "contaminants, particles, foam, debris, airway, particulate, airpath and black."

Tons of damning evidence was already collected by the FDA. Evidence of wrongdoing will make to the class action lawsuit plaintiffs during discovery. Then, the subpoenas will really start flying. Hence, the Wendy-gram. Long before that happens the company will toss a few schmucks under the bus and claim they were rogue actors who violated 'corporate policy' concerning violations of applicable regulations and laws. Ya know, just a few rogue actors responsible for shipping millions of defective products. Happens all the time in unicorn world!

[btreger]

This is from Nicko

Here's one that will make you laugh (and cry). Philips is doing a 10% wholesale price increase in Feb 2022 on their Dreamstation 2. Considering they don't have any stock for their retail customers to order this is just another slap in the face! Pathetic as usual.

[sawinglogz]

It's not the kind of internal letter that you'd expect from a company with 'nothing to hide'.  Wendy may get a few e-mails or calls from recalled device owners regarding her letter of intimidation.  

This seems pretty standard fare for a legal department, outlining your actual legal obligations and rights. They even offer to provide or pay for legal representation.

But always choose independent counsel. Your interests are not always perfectly aligned anyone else's, and guess to whom an attorney is ethically obligated when they conflict? Hint: if they're not your attorney, it's not you.

[hegel]

"An analysis of consumer complaints sent to the company revealed that since 2008, Philips Respironics had received "over 222,000 complaints" that included the keywords "contaminants, particles, foam, debris, airway, particulate, airpath and black."

Those words also appear in your post, so add them in. "Airpath" can occur in a hundred different unrelated contexts; same with "black" (I don'[t like the black color of my machine"); same with "airway" "debris" and all the rest. I'm curious about the source of your long quote. I'm assuming it's from lawyers suing PR. Fair enough. But the "222,00 complaints containing key words" bit is ridiculous. JFK used the word "Monroe" 700 times in his speeches. Obviously he was having an affair with Marilyn Monroe! (Oh, wait he was referencing the Monroe doctrine.) Context!!

(Yeah, he really did have an affair with Marilyn, but you see my point).

[WakeUpTime]

Philips is doing a 10% wholesale price increase in Feb 2022 on their Dreamstation 2. 

Philips, by their own statements, aren't likely 'selling' (for money) any DS2s until at least September 2022 (or later).  Philips would come under a lot of heat if they started selling some DS2 models before then, if there are many in the U.S. (and other countries) who were awaiting their new DS2 replacements for their DS1s.  Once they go through all the designated DS1 replacements (for those getting new DS2s), when only service updates remain (foam fixes), then they'll likely start selling DS2s again.  

It could be that their financial department reckoned that they'll get a 10% better write-off for the complimentary replacements that they're handing out.  Philips, overall, will likely be getting some large tax deductions in 2021 & 2022 as a result.
 
Seems multinationals are announcing average 10% increases across the board, given that increased costs are here to stay, and growing.  Those inflationary and cost price increases will certainly vary by product and country.  Currency fluctuations may also affect some countries more than others.  I would think that ResMed continues to be in a good position to raise its systems pricing.

It's my guess that there will be a lot of new (or newish) DreamStation 2 systems available from third-party dealers and through the aftermarket channels.  That would put some downward pressure on pricing.