Vatican: Pope Has Pacemaker, Battery Secretly Replaced 'a Few Mont

[Autumn Dusk]

Source?

 

 

My friend with a pacemaker.  Maybe it's different because she's 26.  She got it at 22 and has already needed a battery change.  They plan to do a complete replacement between 30 and 35.  I guess it depends on the patient.  

 

I just know she says it's painful and not a cure to heart problems.

[Slappo]

I've never heard of the need to completely replace a pacemaker (which would concern me as my dad has a pacemaker). Quick google search pulled up that the battery needs replaced about every 10 years, but that the pacemaker itself shouldn't need replaced. Maybe on a case by case basis depending on the heart condition and age of the patient they might do it, especially if the patient is so young.

 

In any case, I think Benedict will die long before his pacemaker fails.

[Allykatzlive]

I heard he had heart problems just as his papacy was beginning. I agree that he has never been in best of health. 

[Evangetholic]

"Would've" is not "sub"-standard.

[PhuturePriest]

"We shouldn't be such grammar snobs. The English language, like all languages, breathes. It is not set in stone. It is a completely different language from one thousand years ago, and even when it was comparable to now it has changed and will continue to do so. Grammar changes. That's just the way it is. There is no reason to fight it because you simply can't." - My friend who is majoring in linguistics.

[Noel's angel]

That is completely routine and absolutely nothing to worry about. People get their knickers in a twist over nothing.

[Speedy2]

Let's all pray for our Holy Father. Last week, I created a website for people who want to show him their thankfulness and that they pray for him. 

Join the list: http://www.BeneGrazie.com. Today, we are over 2'400 already!  I will print the list and give it to the Pope.

[Honour]

We seriously can't make a battery that lasts longer than 10 years?  If they can make a 10 year battery for a $30 smoke detector you would think they could do a lot better for an expensive life sustaining device that requires you to be cut open to replace.  Sounds like greed to me.

 

 

*edit for punctuation.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Honour

[MissScripture]

We seriously can't make a battery that lasts longer than 10 years? If they can make a 10 year battery for a $30 smoke detector you would think they could do a lot better for an expensive life sustaining device that requires you to be cut open to replace. Sounds like greed to me.


*edit for punctuation.

I would guess it's actually for safety. They probably can last more than 10 yrs, but its not a battery that anyone wants to have dead before its replaced. And people don't beep like a smoke detector when their batteries are dying. :hehe:

[arfink]

I would guess it's actually for safety. They probably can last more than 10 yrs, but its not a battery that anyone wants to have dead before its replaced. And people don't beep like a smoke detector when their batteries are dying. :hehe:

 

The problem with these batteries, and really any device they can implant in your chest, is that your body will break it down over time. The battery, and specifically the leads that go from the battery to the pacemaker, can eventually break down. They want those out of you well before they come close to failing. In fact, Medtronic recently had lawsuits and such over battery leads for pacemakers developing faults before the 10 years replacement mark.