Millions of U.S. sleep apnea patients are scrambling to find ways to protect their nightly slumber, following a voluntary recall from one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of CPAP breathing machines.
Philips Respironics agreed to a voluntary recall of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines in late June, over concerns that noise-dampening foam inside the devices might degrade and produce toxic particles and gases.
Patients with severe sleep apnea now face a difficult choice if they own one of the Philips machines — go without good sleep for months on end, shell out $1,000 for a new device, or keep using a breathing aid that could harm their health.
Philips said in September it could take up to a year to repair or replace all machines affected by the recall.
Many patients simply won’t be able to wait that long, said Dr. Steven Feinsilver, director of the Lenox Hill Hospital Center for Sleep Medicine, in New York City.
“I have lots of patients — I was just talking to an airline pilot — who are in positions where being sleepy is not trivial,” Feinsilver said.
Visit the Philips website to see if your machine is in the recall list. If it is, there’s a link to register for repair or replacement. Check with your equipment provider – they may provide a loaner.
Giant corporation has failed is customers and most will not purchase from them again. I was fortunate not to be using their machine at this time, but I have in the past. I will not purchase one of theirs in the future.
I stopped smoking cigars and drinking lost 30 lbs and walk two miles daily and don’t snack after 6pm and tossed out my filthy CPAP machine and my blood pressure meds. Sleep Apnea is yet another modern Medical Myth and if those machines are not sparkling sanitary clean they are incubators for all the same germs people claim their Covid Masks are full of. Ever heard of Legionaires Disease .