Not sure if any of you have checked out the forum area of Diabetes1.org lately - but I posted a discussion about Steve Krueger - a Canadian - who died 3 years ago after his Medtronic pump (MMT-511) overdosed him with insulin.  When I first came across the story - I was shocked at what had happened - thinking - what if this happened to me - or one of my many friends that wears a pump?  The other thing that went off in my mind was the fact that the story was only coming to light 3 years later after the fact!

The D and his Guy had posted the same story that I had - but with more discussion going on there - and in my quest to figure out how it happened - had put out a few questions to one person that seemed to know more about this terrible tragedy - and it came to light that they were friends of Steven's and his parents. They shared some information that has left me even more stunned - to the point that I didn't sleep very well - as it has disturbed me to no end.

After Health Canada had completed their investigations that the pump was indeed at fault - they proceeded to hand over the pump to Medtronic - so they could also investigate why their pump had performed this act that lead to the death of Steven.  They did not feel that is was important  and send the pump back without any further testing!

One thing I have come across in searching Health Canada  is that in August 2007 - a recall notice was put out on Medtronic insulin pumps - due to strong magnetic field exposure - and I quote -  "If the pump is exposed to strong magnetic fields, it may exhibit over-delivery potentially resulting in severe hypoglcemia. Users muse avoid exposing the pump to stong magnetic fields such as MRI as stated in the labelling." Could Steven's pump been exposed?  I am not sure what he did for a living - but perhaps he was in the medical field.

WTF - if a plane or car had caused something similar - a death - or accident that could not be explained - the manufacturer would no doubt want to do further investigations of what caused it.  Am I being silly in thinking this way? I feel like I'm losing my marbles trying to grasp at why Medtronic isn't going further into the investigation.

The other thing that is going thru' my sponge brain - Steven's pump was 4 years old - according to what I have read.  Meaning it was perhaps nearing the end of it's warranty (I know with my Animas 2020 I have a warranty of 4 years).  I know of some diabetics - who have had their pumps for much longer - and no problems as of yet with how it works - but there is always a chance something might go wrong.  I am thinking perhaps pump manufacturers might want to have their product go thru' a diagnostic check up from time to time perhaps.  Now, yes, it might cost the consumer - but at the price of a pump - it's a small amount compared to what they would pay for a new pump or perhaps have what happened to Steven occur.

Anyway, I am to the point of trying to get a petition together within some of the diabetic communities I am in - to send to Medtronic to ask them why they proceeded this way in not doing further investigations.  At this point in time - I am so glad I did not purchase a Medtronic pump.  One of the reason I didn't at the time (I had test run the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System for 4 months prior to trying out the Animas 2020) was due to the the Customer Service which I did not find as good as Animas.

I want to be the Ralph Nader of Diabetics!!!