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As consumer companies including Apple and Samsung start opening up their hardware products to independent repair, and legislators put pressure on companies like John Deere to do the same, others are resisting the right-to-repair movement. A medical device company that makes a machine for heart surgeries has told hospitals recently that it will no longer allow their in-house technicians to repair the devices themselves. Hospitals will now need to enter into repair contracts directly with the manufacturer.
Terumo Cardiovascular makes the product, called the Advanced Perfusion System 1 Heart Lung Machine, which reroutes blood during open-heart surgeries to keep a patient alive during surgery. According to 404 Media, Terumo told hospitals last month that it will stop offering certification classes for repairs of the devices.
The job of an independent repair technician used to be more commonplace—there were individuals who could fix everything from TVs to dishwashers and automobiles. But today more hardware is filled with chips and software, and companies like Apple have said the software on their devices is copyrighted intellectual property; allowing anyone to look under the hood and conduct modifications could lead to security or reliability risks.
Apple has begun loosening its grip on repairs somewhat, after years of criticism over the hypocrisy of committing to environmental sustainability while simultaneously hampering repairs that could extend device lifespans. The company now offers official replacement parts and repair tools for some devices with plans to expand this support in the future. Reports suggest it is still complicated to repair an iPhone independently, but it is a start. Samsung also supports independent repair of its smartphones.
In many cases, however, devices today are more like services. Instead of buying a refrigerator or smart thermostat once and being able to do with it whatever the owner would like, any type of upgrade or fix often requires returning to the company that sold it. Research suggests it is a fundamental reason we have so much waste in the world today. TV will not turn on? Either get it fixed under warranty or throw it away, because getting a new one may just be cheaper.
Turning hardware into essentially a service is inherently inflationary due to lock-in. If there were an open market for repairs of devices like Terumo’s, it is possible hospitals could get a better price. Case in point: in a report, the Federal Trade Commission found that medical device manufacturers sometimes charge 2-3 times what an independent technician would charge. And U.S. healthcare costs are already astronomically high as is.
To see how things could be, look no further than automobiles of yore. For a long time, independent auto body shops flourished. BMWs or Ford’s could be repaired by anyone with a wrench and some elbow work. But as cars too become more computerized, access to digital information is required to diagnose and fix problems, like a malfunctioning backup camera.
Lawmakers have recently complained that like medical device companies, the automakers are making it difficult for independent repair companies to access software data and diagnostics under the same guise that it would risk security. And they are doing so in violation of right-to-repair laws passed in states including Massachusetts explicitly to enable independent shops to access software diagnostics.
The harms of lock-in are clear. There are few independent repair shops that can service Teslas—besides high prices, owners of those vehicles have complained about slow or poor service from the company’s official technicians. In the case of Terumo, what if it is too slow to respond when a critical device is in need of repair for surgeries?
Terumo has of course argued that medical devices are sensitive and complex, and allowing anyone to repair them risks patient safety. It also told 404 that the company saw declining demand for participation in its training program. But if Apple can figure out how to make third-party repairs work, maybe Terumo can too. Hospital repair technicians are technicians after all—they should able to do whatever Terumo’s in-house technicians can.
