Doesn’t help if no one picks up the ball on manufacturing spare parts. Manufacturing medical devices is really expensive, even more so when you have to do small batches of niche hardware, and requires fairly special manufacturing capabilities so it’s not easily done by anyone.
Yes. The licensing approval for things like this need to include a plan for continued support if/when the company goes belly up. That would have to include the govt agreeing to pick up the slack, which would require some kind of trust fund for each individual implant to cover a lifetime of maintenance. Or, you know, nationalisation. But this is the world we live in … so even the most basic solution won’t happen because it might get in the way of some rich fuckers turning people into money.
Doesn’t help if no one picks up the ball on manufacturing spare parts. Manufacturing medical devices is really expensive, even more so when you have to do small batches of niche hardware, and requires fairly special manufacturing capabilities so it’s not easily done by anyone.
Yes. The licensing approval for things like this need to include a plan for continued support if/when the company goes belly up. That would have to include the govt agreeing to pick up the slack, which would require some kind of trust fund for each individual implant to cover a lifetime of maintenance. Or, you know, nationalisation. But this is the world we live in … so even the most basic solution won’t happen because it might get in the way of some rich fuckers turning people into money.