Recall of Puritan Bennett 980 Series Ventilator System

According to Department of Health, Therapeutic Goods Administration, this recall involved a device in Australia that was produced by Covidien Pty Ltd.

What is this?

A correction or removal action taken by a manufacturer to address a problem with a medical device. Recalls occur when a medical device is defective, when it could be a risk to health, or when it is both defective and a risk to health.

Learn more about the data here
  • Type of Event
    Recall
  • Event ID
    RC-2014-RN-01089-1
  • Event Risk Class
    Class I
  • Event Initiated Date
    2014-10-09
  • Event Country
  • Event Source
    DHTGA
  • Event Source URL
  • Notes / Alerts
    Australian data is current through July 2018. All of the data comes from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration, except for the categories Manufacturer Parent Company and Product Classification.
    The Parent Company and the Product Classification were added by ICIJ.
    The parent company information is based on 2017 public records. The device classification information comes from FDA’s Product Classification by Review Panel, based on matches of recall data from the U.S. and Australia.
  • Extra notes in the data
  • Reason
    The issue is related to a capacitor failure in the backlight inverter printed circuit board assembly (pcba) in the ventilator display that can cause a dimming of the display that may be accompanied by a burning odour. in complaints reported to date, the puritan bennett 980 ventilator remained functional and ventilatory support to the patient continued when this failure occurred. the pcba must be replaced to preclude possible failure of the component. covidien had no reports of serious patient injury or death associated with this issue.
  • Action
    A Covidien representative will replace the backlight inverter PCBA on affected ventilators as soon as possible. Ventilators may continue to be used during this time.

Device

Manufacturer

  • Manufacturer Parent Company (2017)
  • Manufacturer comment
    “If our surveillance systems identify a potential performance issue, our personnel promptly evaluate the problem, including, when appropriate, conducting root cause investigations and internal testing to assess whether the product continues to meet specifications and defined performance criteria,” Medtronic told ICIJ in a statement. “In some cases, based on this evaluation, Medtronic may determine that a recall is necessary.” The company said that it communicates with healthcare providers and/or patients and provide recommendations to address such issues. Medtronic noted that these communications can include letters, emails, calls, press releases, physician notifications and social media postings, as well as informing the FDA and other regulators of the actions.
  • Source
    DHTGA