and recall

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Well each of us is supposed to do our homework and look at the

features, facts, figures and reliability of the implants we are

considering. And make our choices. Most times the doctor or audiologist

won't make the decision for you. In some cases, there is a medical

reason why a certain implant cannot be used, but the Dr. will tell you

that upfront.

So if people get caught up in promises of upcoming fancy features, or

the colors available, and all that, and don't look at what is here now

today, then they make their decisions and have to live with them. I'll

be the first to admit I chose the Nucleus because they had a behind the

ear (BTE) speech processor available 8 years ago when I was implanted.

The audiologist told me that Bionics would have a BTE processor coming

out " any day now " , but in fact it didn't come out for more than a year

after I started wearing a BTE. Taught me that anyone can advertise

anything as being " in development " , but you need to go with what is

available at the time you get implanted..

And for reliability, well, check the statistics. Cochlear has been

out the longest, has more experience with implants because of that, and

has a very high degree of reliability.

And as you said: I finally understand the message they have been

trying to send all this time--that nothing else really matters if the

internal part isn't working.

The Original

From: " majohnsen32 " <majohnsen32@...>

Subject: Advanced Bionics Recall

Hi:

I'm usually one of the " lurkers " here, but after hearing this news,

I just couldn't keep quiet! I was so shocked to hear of another

recall--after the shock wore off, I just felt anger. What is the

deal with this company? They clearly do not value the people they

are putting this device into or they wouldn't be so careless.

Eventhough the CI surgery wasn't hard, I certainly wouldn't want to

go through it again unneccessarily just because Advanced Bionics

doesn't make enough of an effort to deliver a quality product!

I considered getting the very device that is now being recalled, but

in the end Cochlear's history and the options on the new Freedom

system won me over. I'm counting my blessings about that tonight!

I just feel bad for those people who didn't make the same choice

that I did, and may now have to deal with their device not working

or having another surgery.

I guess I never fully understood why Cochlear always talks about

reliability. They have it in all of their materials, and every

presentation I have ever seen them give, they talk about it. I

guess I always thought that all of them must be reliable or they

wouldn't be able to sell them. I finally understand the message

they have been trying to send all this time--that nothing else

really matters if the internal part isn't working.

What's really strange to me is that my audiologist never mentioned

that there were significant differences between the companies when I

was trying to decide. I went back and found my brochures tonight

and in Cochlear's they talk about how their device is up to 4 times

more reliable than either Advanced Bionics or Med-El...that didn't

really jump out at me when I was comparing companies.

Someone mentioned this is Advanced Bionics 4th recall in 4 years---

that doesn't sound like a very trustworthy company to me!

Freedom

6/17/05