Magnets in the iPad2 and its smart cover can turn off defibrillator implants

<i>"The magnet mode is a feature of ICDs which allows emergency suppression of defibrillator therapy when a donut magnet is placed over the device ... With the removal of the magnet, tachycardia sensing and therapy are restored"</i> [1]<p>If this applies to all ICDs equally then the risk is limited to the time that the iPad2 remains on their chest (e.g snoozing, reading in bed, etc).<p>I think projects like this are cool. If there was a 30% chance of a relative's pacemaker being affected by an external device, I'd think twice about buying them said device.<p>[1] <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rCTdTU9L12EC&#38;pg=PA221&#38;lpg=PA221&#38;dq=magnet+mode+defibrillator&#38;source=bl&#38;ots=-E2TQjDo5_&#38;sig=9YP4fJ6ZSMfrpgZgrQrqwsNQA5Q&#38;hl=en&#38;sa=X&#38;ei=9oOPUcH4L6ad0AWN54CwBA&#38;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&#38;q=magnet%20mode%20defibrillator&#38;f=false" rel="nofollow">http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rCTdTU9L12EC&#38;pg=PA221...</a>

I'm amazed that only the apple magnets do this and not any other magnets at all.

&#62; "stunning the medical and tech communities"<p>Well, the tech community is certainly stunned, but not for the reasons you think.....

It seems odd that the designers of such a potentially life-critical device would choose a method with such potential for accidental triggering for such a function.<p>I guess it's a tradeoff between likelihood of accidental triggering vs not having the capability to disable it in a genuine emergency due to lack of equipment.<p>Then again, if your paramedics/hospital don't immediately have a (strong enough) magnet on hand, you're no better off than them not having the special disabling-device. I guess magnets are cheaper, and don't require batteries, but is that a sufficient reason to use such a signal?<p>Even something like requiring a varying magnetic field at some fixed frequency (and of a high enough power to not trigger on RF/spurious EM) would be much less likely to accidentally trigger, and the disable-device could be an electromagnet driven by an oscillator.<p>Any other ideas why this method might have been chosen?

Apparently the iPad manual states that as such. Not a discovery, though apparently no one reads the manuals. Not really news.... All magnets can be problematic.<p>"iPad has magnets along the left edge of the device and on the right side of the front glass, which may interfere with pacemakers, defibrillators, or other medical devices. The iPad Smart Cover and iPad Smart Case also contain magnets. Maintain at least 6 inches (approximately 15 cm) of separation between your pacemaker or defibrillator and iPad, the iPad Smart Cover, or the iPad Smart Case."