Right-to-repair advocates say hospitals need new rules to keep equipment working

Photo by MORRIS MAC MATZEN/AFP via Getty Images

An advocacy group is urging lawmakers to make sure hospitals can repair their own equipment — citing a survey of over 200 medical professionals. The US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has released a new report on how “right-to-repair” rules affect medical professionals, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. It concludes that a lack of clear rules makes it more difficult to fix vital medical devices at a sustainable cost, even when many manufacturers aren’t acting maliciously.
The PIRG report surveyed 222 biomedical professionals, many of whom work at hospitals. Nearly half said they’d been denied access to necessary repair parts and information during the pandemic. And nearly all said that removing restrictions on repairs was…

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