Amish Ingenuity

The Amish are a regilious demonination here in the United States that live the simple life, often without electricity in their home. But they do avail themselves of medical technology on occassion, and to this end, here's a case where technology permitted follow-up of one Amish patient's implantable defibrillator from the countryside, using a telephonic follow-up service from Boston Scientific, called Latitude. (ed. note: Thanks to our local rep, Greg Roth, for providing these images. Please feel free to click them to enlarge).

The patient was a 73 year old Amish man who was implanted in 2003 with a Guidant Ventak Prism II implantable cardiac defibrillator. He traveled 30 miles for his checks from rural Pennsylvania, and then applied his own version of remote follow-up using Boston Scientific's Latitude system:


A view of the countryside.


A view of the countryside from the other angle.
Note the outhouse-style shed.


But is it an outhouse?


A closer look reveals the answer.


Not only is the shed beautifully constructed, using a voltage inverter connected to a car battery, the patient has rigged the Latitude system to a phone line for remote follow-up of his defibrillator. Doctors review the information provided to assure proper functioning of his defibrillator from their office.
Ingenious, indeed.

-Wes