Apple's warning to keep iPhone 12 models away from pacemakers due to electromagnetic interference was underlined this week by US cardiologists in a new medical report.
Apple's iPhone 12 models contain a series of magnets that help align the device with Apple's MagSafe charging accessories to improve charging. However, Apple advises users with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators to use the iPhone and MagSafe accessories at a safe distance To test the extent of the risk, cardiologist Gurjit Singh of the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute and his colleagues recently conducted further tests to determine how big the impact of the new Apple products is (via NBC25 News).
iPhone 12 and medical devices: Tests for curiosity
According to the article, more than 300,000 people in the U.S. undergo surgery to implant one of these medical devices each year, and about one in four smartphones sold last year was an iPhone 12. The cardiac devices have mechanisms that respond to an external magnet to change the way the device works, allowing them to be controlled without surgery. Curious about potential interference with electrical devices, Dr. Singh and his colleagues took an iPhone 12 Pro and ran it over the chest of a patient with an implanted defibrillator. Dr. Singh explains:
When we brought the iPhone near the patient's chest, the defibrillator was disabled. We saw on the external defibrillator programmer that the device's functions were suspended and remained suspended. When we took the device away from the patient's chest, the defibrillator immediately returned to normal function. We were all stunned. We had assumed that the magnet in a phone was too weak to trigger the defibrillator's magnetic switch.
The finding is significant because Dr. Singh is an expert in the use of devices such as implantable defibrillators, which detect an irregular heartbeat and shock the heart back into a normal rhythm, and pacemakers, which use electricity to make the heart beat.
iPhone 12 & MagSafe accessories could prevent life-saving therapy
Following the discovery, Dr. Singh and his colleagues immediately submitted a report of their findings to the medical journal HeartRhythm, which was published on January 4, 2021. It states:
We believe our findings have far-reaching implications for the people who live with these devices every day and who, without thinking, put their phone in their shirt or top pocket or coat – not knowing that it may affect the function of their defibrillator or pacemaker in a way that can be potentially fatal.
The new findings add to advisories published in January warning that iPhone 12 models and related MagSafe devices "may prevent a patient from receiving life-saving therapy" due to magnetic interference with implanted medical devices. Apple provides more information on this topic in the "Important Safety Information for iPhone" section of the iPhone user guide. (Photo by neirfy / Bigstockphoto)
