ivan4
A good idea but what is there to stop someone revising the dispensing setup from another computer? As long as the USB port is available ther is the ability to hack it.
Joris van den Heuvel
@ivan4: USB access is, of course, password protected. With a proper security method this device can be made virtually unbreakable. Well, apart from physically breaking the device.
Slowburn
Aside from people who intentionally OD simply allowing doctors to stop the pain rather than just reduce it to "tolerable" levels would solve the problem.
nicho
So let me get this straight. A bunch of happy smiling people are proud of building a device that stops people from relieving pain ?
Sam Joy
Why are all these people smiling??...the have the hack to the vault don't they??
VirtualGathis
@nicho: No. They are proud of creating a device that prevents people from killing themselves with dangerous medication, and preventing people using them like street drugs because they are narcotic. If the dosage rates the physician prescribed are not meeting the pain management needs of the patient he or she needs to work with a trained physician to get the right medication and dosages to manage the pain not self prescribe more pills without knowing what the consequences will be. For instance a non-narcotic pain killer that can surprise you is acetaminophen it will cause liver damage if you take more than 4000MG in a 24 hour period. That’s only four doses of two 500mg pills. When you get into the high end pain killers and narcotic pain killers they are vastly more dangerous than that.
I personally applaud this device, provided it works as described. I have had friends who were addicted to pain killers to the point where they would literally break their own leg to get more. One young lady has a note on her medical file preventing anything stronger than Tylenol due to her having “tripped on the steps” five times in the same year and breaking her ankle every time. The password requirement would also prevent her from doing what she did later, and just steal them from friends and family. The regulated dosage would, as the article mentions, prevent people from killing themselves by taking too much.
Jay Finke
How will it stand up to a skill saw ? most abusers are smart enough to figure out how to break into anything.
techmanmacho
So tell me what happens when the power fails and the patient cannot retrieve said medication?.....
Dennis Chevalier
I like it and want one -I use hydrocodone to help with my back problems
Paul Anthony
This is a good solution to a huge problem. It does bring up some questions. How does the cost of such a device work into the current health care coverage? What happens if you are in grave pain and you are 5 minutes away from the next available dosage, are you subject to just suffering until the next available dosage is released? What if you are a full hour away from the next available dose and you are in pain? What happens to the unit when you miss a dose, does it release a second (double) dose? How does it handle overnight sleeping? Can you get the dosage increased remotely by the doctor, or does the patient have to go back in to the pharmacist to have them do it? After asking these questions, I am thinking perhaps this is not a good solution after all.