Tesla offers ventilators free of cost to hospitals | Hacker News Reader

Tesla offers ventilators free of cost to hospitals

thehill.com

32 pointsartur_makly23 comments

They’re CPAP machines, which are unsafe to use in hospitals because they spread germs.

https://twitter.com/NYCHealthSystem/status/12450083005188014...

ResMed does not make ventilators approved for hospital use or the treatment of COVID19 patients, which they point out on their website. https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apnea/cpap-products/cpap-...

As ResMed notes, while their CPAP machines are useful for those with breathing difficulties, they cannot safely be reused between patients. Meaning every CPAP machine provided by Tesla to hospitals can only be used on one COVID19 patient.

So, they're better than nothing but still an example of Tesla/Musk saying one thing, borking the execution of that one thing, and then congratulating themselves for failing to do what they claimed they would do.

Could they not figure out a way to clean these machines? Seems like you can clean nearly anything if desperate enough.

CPAPs aerosolize on exhale, they aren't closed loop like hospital ventilators. It's not about cleaning just the machine but decontaminating the whole room.

Would treatment in a tent outside be better than nothing?

I can see some pretty easy hacks for dealing with that. Putting a hose on the outlet and filtering with electret material or UVC. Healthcare in the US is regulated to the nth degree, but at this point it seems that a slightly imperfect solution is better than nothing, and testing a solution like this for viability should be easy in any hospital that can test for COVID-19.

Is it not possible to route the exhaust through a filter? If a couple millimeters of masks can stop it surely a canister style filter would more than do th job.

I don't get why people idolize Elon Musk so much.

The current concern is having enough ventilators to match the peak next week, so even if it's true that these machines can't be reused (and I kinda want to see a source on that) it seems pretty helpful.

Along with CPAP machines Resmed does make ventilators which are FDA approved for use in clinical environments. Tesla also distributed ventilators from Medtronic and Philips.

Resmed doesn't sell FDA approved ventilators for use in clinical settings. They sell FDA approved prescription ventilators for home use.

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/ventilation/

ResMed has ventilators too.

Read the page. Those are not the same ventilators used in hospitals.

Jesus, trying to help out and get shit on. Welcome to Hacker News.

You mean “claiming to help, failing to help, then taking credit for any minor wins you had nothing to do with”? Ah yes, the Elon Musk way...

Yeah using his own money to buy medical equipment.

"Fuck you asshole that is not the perfect equipment"

There are tons of tweets from doctors who are happy to get that stuff, but clearly fuck those asshole doctors. They should spit in his face and demand higher quality products.

If by "own money" you mean Tesla money, which is he using to burnish his own public image.

And the point isn't that the equipment isn't perfect. The point is that these large devices are (a) limited to single-patient use and (b) aren't the kind of ventilators used to treat the breathing complications created by COVID19. (CPAP machines are a much simpler form of ventilator.)

Thank god that you know better then the doctors from the hospital. Be sure to go and tell them they are idiots.

Beating a dead horse here, but the "ventilators" that Elon Musk bought were 5-year old discontinued models that aren't even made any more. Moreover, these CPAP machines (technically BiPAP) are now suspected to be the reason for the extremely high fatality rate in Washington. In order to use these for COVID19 patients, medical facilities first need to make substantial modifications (such as adding filtering mechanisms).

So, not only do I stand by my initial comments, but it is the opinion of multiple medical experts with actual experience treating COVID19 patients that these machines are actually be harmful to use in a clinical situation without substantial modifications requiring resources the hospitals don't have. https://khn.org/news/covid19-ventilator-shortage-substitutin...

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-elon-musk-cpap-ventilator-co...

Crazy how hospitals actually ask for something and are happy when they get it.

Right, so you would rather die than risk germ infection?

You’re missing the point. It aerosolizes the coronavirus which is especially problematic for the doctors and nurses trying to care for you.

CPAP machines can't produce the pressure necessary for proper ventilation in COVID-19 cases so...

Not only are you going to die either way, using this kills extra people along the way.

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