Pacemaker and Segway

[inewman]

Does anybody know if there are any issues using a Segway with a pacemaker? Thanks.

Ira

[Jon]

Dear Ira,

For the first couple of years that I owned my i167, I operated it in a large teaching hospital in order to cover an extended area, precipitated by some significant problems I was having with foot pain (subsequently largely resolved, thanks to the Segway!). In order to operate the device in the hospital, I needed to have it checked out by our medical engineering people to verify that it would not interfere with any of the electronics including telemetry equipment in our facility. Please be clear that the Segway is not a medical device!! (This has been discussed at length in other threads!) In any event, after extensive operational testing, our medical engineering folks told me that, in their opinion, it was built with a quality level comparable to medical equipment that they evaluated, and that they had absolutely no concerns with my operating the equipment anywhere in our hospital, including the intensive care units.

So, while this does not directly answer your question, **nor are any guarantees offered**, I am reasonably confident that a person wearing a pacemaker would be able to enjoy the glide without experiencing any difficulty related to RF interference from an i167, i170, i180, or p133 Segway. Because of the presence of magnets in the vicinity of the steering knob on the left handle portion of the i-series and p-series control shaft, the pacemaker wearer probably shouldn't place the part of their chest where the pacemaker is mounted directly onto that part of the control shaft-- I can't imagine why you'd want to assume that awkward position anyway! I think that some pacemaker-type devices may use some sort of magnetic wand to adjust the device from outside of the body.

I can't speak for the i2 models; they use radio to link the control device to the base unit. I suspect that Segway's designers have avoided frequencies that would create interference for a pacemaker wearer, though this question might be worth directing to Segway's technical support folks for an official and accurate answer.

-= Jon =-

[MagiMike]

It would also be a good question to ask the maker of your particular pacemaker. They will have exact information on how strong an electrical field would have to be to cause problems. It is my understanding that modern pacemakers have much better shielding than the early types and few problems are experienced on the newer models.