Wireless patient devices at risk from proposed Internet use

Good article addressing the "white spaces" of the wireless world...and when the switch goes to digital they will be made available...so your medical device could be broadcasting on the same wave as a baseball game...Channel 37 is the protected channel for medical devices...most but not all hospitals have migrated to this channel...portable Internet devices operating in the adjacent empty channels next to the exclusive medical-device one may be too powerful, bleed into it and "overload" hospitals systems is the concern...and a related article states the doctors should follow heart device patients closely....so to have a baseball game interfere for a simple example would not be good...BD

WASHINGTON (AP) — Losing the audio feed during "Monday Night Football" may seem like a crisis for some sports fan, but it's nothing compared to losing the signal that monitors a critically ill hospital patient.

The technical glitches share a potential source: the proposed use of unoccupied TV airwaves for high-speed Internet service across the country.

Technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc., have said low-powered, unlicensed and portable devices such as cell phones, laptops and BlackBerrys, can operate safely in the empty spectrum without harming other signals. They say it will provide affordable high-speed Internet and spur innovation.

The Associated Press: Wireless patient devices at risk from proposed Internet use