Device linked to deaths

THE Irish Medicines Board yesterday confirmed almost 1,200 people in Ireland have been fitted with the same type of heart defibrillator that has been linked to five deaths in the US.

Medtronic has voluntarily suspended worldwide distribution of the Sprint Fidelis family of defibrillation leads and is recalling any unused leads because of the potential for lead fractures.

They are wires placed on heart muscles and attached to an implanted electrical device designed to maintain appropriate heart rhythm.