Corporate responsibility and misplaced perceptions.

I have one of the recalled ResMed S8 Compact CPAP machines. My DME provider sent a letter, but thanks to the forum, I'd already phoned them. They will inform me when the new machines are in to set up an exchange.

Till then, I have a number of things to check: smoke, fire, crackling, sparking, etc. are all indications to STOP using the machine immediately AND unplug the thing, please. Uh, I think I already knew all of that.

I'm not TOO worried about my machine because I have travelled with it an average of 2 times per week since I've had it. There has been no sign of a problem.

Here is what worries me: I do like my machine. I am debating what to do as I would like an APAP, but now will my insurance company back that decision? Or, will I be forced to keep this CPAP for MORE years now because it is now being replaced and will be considered new for the purposes of replacement? (In that case, this would be a help to the insurance companies.)

Further, if this warrants such a large recall, then what is going to happen to all of the OLD machines? Can they not be repaired? Will they be junked? Can they be fixed and donated or sold as reconditioned at a reduced price?

This whole cloth recall and replacement policy for a possible simple tear and repair issue just seems to be overkill and wasteful in one respect. Logistically, though, it is probably the best way to ensure the health of each user. It is the easiest and most effective method of handling the whole affair. However, it seems wasteful.

I would not be buying stock in ResMed until these questions were answered to my satisfaction.

Visit to Resmed at Bella Vista,

I have my 2 new machines & some info to pass on - I also took a set of photos of the Resmed site & the sleep clinic there using my 2mp camera in my Moto V3i phone I'll post them on my website - the place was under security camera observation but no one came out & told me to stop taking pics so I snapped away. I also got a pic of the original washing machine motor version of the cpap - the machined used by Colin Sullivan that started it off. It is a sight to behold.


1) The site is still being built incl a new manufacturing facility + a new warehouse (but this whole site is only about a year or two old).

2) The recall was due to a power cord incompatibility with the length of the power pins in the power socket - my educated guess on the nature of the fault was close (I had the arcing taking place at the wrong end of the pin & for the wrong reason), so the problem was not due to any manufacturing issue in how the pins were fitted, just how long they were. Some 3rd party power cords were not making enough contact with the pins & that could in exceptional circumstances cause arcing between the power cord and these pins. The new sockets have slightly longer power pins and that solves any issues.

3) No one ordered Resmed to do a recall, not the FDA or any other authority, the recall was entirely instigated by Resmed and is voluntary but Resmed had to put reserves aside to cover a possible maximum number of replacements. The sleep specialist who provided me with my new machines said that some people were alarmed by the recall but that most were ok once it was explained that the recall was voluntary & the problem was not a manufacturing one caused by defective parts, just pins that need to be longer to work well with all types of power cords (a design issue).

Some other info I gleaned ...

Colin Sullivan never worked for Resmed, they basically were a medical equip manufacturer who saw what he was doing & approached him with their design ideas & thus their 1st machines were called Sullivans.

The S8 mfg line isn't robot controlled but still uses human beings (I speculated that they were robot assembled based on what I observed inside the S8). But I still believe the line could be easily converted into robot assembly.

They had a building there called the innovation centre but it was in an area not open to the public. Now I would have liked to have got into that building


#2 Also discussed HI & AI readings with the sleepclinic person doing the exchange. I mentioned that I had very low AI scores (usually under 1.0) but higher HI scores. He commented that during the night it was common for people to take a deep breath sometimes then not breathe for several seconds (even yawning will do it) & that if this was over 10 secs then most machines will score a hypopnea even if it wasn't one & that they regard an HI score of up to 4.0 as being quite acceptable.


DSM

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, CPAP, Power

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): resmed, CPAP, Hypopnea, Power

[quote="birdshell"]I have one of the recalled ResMed S8 Compact CPAP machines. My DME provider sent a letter, but thanks to the forum, I'd already phoned them. They will inform me when the new machines are in to set up an exchange.

Till then, I have a number of things to check: smoke, fire, crackling, sparking, etc. are all indications to STOP using the machine immediately AND unplug the thing, please. Uh, I think I already knew all of that.

I'm not TOO worried about my machine because I have travelled with it an average of 2 times per week since I've had it. There has been no sign of a problem.

Here is what worries me: I do like my machine. I am debating what to do as I would like an APAP, but now will my insurance company back that decision? Or, will I be forced to keep this CPAP for MORE years now because it is now being replaced and will be considered new for the purposes of replacement? (In that case, this would be a help to the insurance companies.)

Further, if this warrants such a large recall, then what is going to happen to all of the OLD machines? Can they not be repaired? Will they be junked? Can they be fixed and donated or sold as reconditioned at a reduced price?

This whole cloth recall and replacement policy for a possible simple tear and repair issue just seems to be overkill and wasteful in one respect. Logistically, though, it is probably the best way to ensure the health of each user. It is the easiest and most effective method of handling the whole affair. However, it seems wasteful.

I would not be buying stock in ResMed until these questions were answered to my satisfaction.

dsm wrote:I guess I now know why Respironics went for an external power pack - 'not our problem" :0

Well, no, it still would be their problem, but all they'd have to recall would be the external power packs. A bit cheaper than replacing whole machines.

blarg wrote:

dsm wrote:I guess I now know why Respironics went for an external power pack - 'not our problem" :0

Well, no, it still would be their problem, but all they'd have to recall would be the external power packs. A bit cheaper than replacing whole machines.

dsm wrote:If they sold that power pack - !

Which they do....

Snoredog wrote:

Slinky wrote:SnoreDog, how come you've had to buy 3-4 xPAP machines since the first of October last year?

I was a playin with em

I still have 2.

Nah,

He just has to boost his credibility a bit (well a lot actually), - beyond respironics products - got shot down so many times on these others that he fits the original description of the original parachuter 'they scraped him off the tarmac like a blob of strawberry jam' <repeat> (sung to John Brown's body


Want to see what happens to someone who posts detailed and scathing critiqes on machines he has never used ? - there is an accurate portrait posted by Snoredog just a few pics up from this post personally I find it vulgar and a disgrace to this forum but then again it fits the bill in his case - he clearly identifies with its imagry to a level that few others do. Plus the forum admins seem quite happy for him to keep doing these self portraits.

DSM

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): respironics

blarg wrote:

dsm wrote:If they sold that power pack - !

Which they do....

Well for the obvious anti Resmed mob among us , here are the pics of the evil empire taken off my phone today

To the normal among us - here are the pics of the mfg site of an Australian xPAP manufacturer. These pics aren't up to the usual quality - mobile phones really don't make good cameras but they are better than nothing.

The pics include a photo of the original washing machine motor based cpap that prof Sullivan experimented with.

http://www.internetage.com/general/bellavista-1/

D

[quote="mth712"]Actually it is very irresponsible of Resmed to wait until "they" were in a corner and until "they" were ready to recall machines. Someone could or may have gotten hurt or house burned down. Also, I doubt they are paying entirely themselves for this recall. The company that made the board may be paying them and Resmed is probably insured for things like this. That being said, I love their masks'. You are what my 16 year old calls a "fanboy". I vote for who I think is the best person for the job and I buy the machine I think is best for me regardless of all the BS that goes on.

Hey, DSM! The next time you go to BellaVista, I want that white slipper shaped xPAP!!!!

Thanks for the pics. I was surprised at how many models of xPAP they've produced thru the years. And, yup, now I see why "they" refer to those original xPAPs as washing machines!! We've come a long way, baby. At least in style and size.

Slinky wrote:Hey, DSM! The next time you go to BellaVista, I want that white slipper shaped xPAP!!!!

Thanks for the pics. I was surprised at how many models of xPAP they've produced thru the years. And, yup, now I see why "they" refer to those original xPAPs as washing machines!! We've come a long way, baby. At least in style and size.

Slinky,

I must confess I wondered what those white things were doing there

Also, I think that the bottom shelf represents the gear mfg'd under the Sullivan name & the next shelf under the Resmed name. Maybe those white things represent 2 steps forward

They didn't have any Liberator nor Quattro masks & I drew a blank on getting any updates to my Vpap IIIs (the bloke responsible wasn't there at the time I was (bloke = normal Aussie for a male person))

DSM

And Sheila for my gender??? I'm catching on to some of that Aussie talk.

By the way, do you guys in Oz really eat your food as peppery as The Outback restaurants in the US make it??? The Outback is my favorite eating place (I'm a beef eater!) but every now and then I forget to tell them to go easy on the pepper on my steak. More and more often I've been ordering the prime rib to avoid forgetting to ask them to go easy on the pepper.

And are Blooming Onions really an Aussie dish or is it just something delicious that The Outback restaurants came up with??

Darn! Now I think I'm gonna have to insist on The Outback for Mother's Day!!! Drool.

dsm wrote:In which countries ?

- hey - do they sub-contract ? - maybe ?

So wait, you're trying to say that if a Respironics brand power adapter explodes, they're not going to be involved in the recall?

-SWS wrote:

GoofyUT wrote:I have never known you to be dismissive before, and I'm truly sorry to have discovered that you can be. It lessens you.

Chuck, my opinion has never varied on this issue, nor have I fundamentally changed because of this issue. The issue therefore has logically never changed my essence in any diminishing or bolstering way.

Having given this issue a great deal of thought over the years, I don't think I meet the standard definition of dismissive either. I simply happen to vehemently disagree with you, Chuck. I have yet to see anyone produce any substantial evidence to back up your highly incriminating claims. On that basis alone I don't think your Respironics shill accusations could withstand the test of any modern jurisprudence system that is inherently rational.

I have only seen superficial albeit highly incriminating speculation to date. And I have repeatedly seen these vague and highly incriminating statements hurled by you and others without sound proof. Yet after placing all those vague and speculative judgements aside, the question becomes what is really at the heart of all that vitriol? After all, superficial speculation about any issue no more changes its underlying truth than differing opinions happen to change our essence. I for one suspect most or all of that vitriol has absolutely nothing to do with "shills and franchises". I think I see an entire convergence of social dynamics at play.

But I also have yet to see a single morally convincing iota of evidence that there are vocal Respironics shills on this board. Anyone who makes those incriminating claims without evidence, and then tells me that I'm diminished because I happen to disagree seriously needs to go back to the critical-reasoning drawing board.