Consumers can buy and sell almost anything on eBay, the giant
online auctioneer -- including a used tube designed to be inserted
into a patient's jugular.
That little-known commodity, a refurbished single-use medical
device, was recently offered by a seller who could not be
identified, and there was no way of knowing who bought it and
whether it was ultimately used on a patient.
Manufacturers of single-use devices say they cannot vouch for
the safety of their instruments if they are reconditioned. Those
who sell such devices say there is no credible evidence that their
refurbished devices are riskier than new devices, and they say they
can save hospitals about half the cost of a new device.
But are hospitals buying medical devices on eBay? There is
little way to know.
EBay Inc. says it is not its role to oversee the buying and
selling of such devices on its service. "We don't take
responsibility for items sold on the site," said company spokesman
Hani Durzy. "We're a marketplace."
That means buyers and sellers of reprocessed single-use medical
devices on eBay operate largely under the radar. In many cases,
there is no certain way of knowing where sellers obtained such used
medical devices and no sure way of knowing who bought them,
interviews and records show.
Among the more visible online marketers is ClearMedical Inc. of
Bellevue, Wash., one of the five largest reprocessors in the United
States. In a three-month experiment last year, the company said, it
operated an eBay virtual "storefront," selling reused single-use
medical devices that it considers "non-invasive" because they do
not enter the bloodstream when used on patients. That includes
pulse oximeter sensors, which measure oxygen in the blood, and
compression sleeves, which increase circulation. (One bidder
offered $450 for a set of compression sleeves; ClearMedical said
that was about a 30 percent discount off the original price.)
Privately held ClearMedical declined to disclose sales results
from the test market, but chief executive Gregg Bennett said it
went so well, "we have bigger plans in process." He declined to
disclose them.
When asked how ClearMedical can know who is buying its devices
online, Bennett said his firm can ask buyers to "validate"
themselves; a hospital, for example, can furnish a copy of its
purchase order, he said. But if individuals want to buy a
reprocessed medical device, he said, there is little that can be
done to confirm their identity. Bennett added, however, "Nobody's
concerned about that here. Why would anyone [outside of the medical
field] want to buy one of those devices?"
As it turns out, there is a market for medical devices on the
Web. In 2004, an Arizona medical clinic bought a pacemaker on eBay,
and it was implanted in a patient. The pacemaker, it was
discovered, had been stolen. On eBay, a company called Trimey this
year offered for sale devices reprocessed by Phoenix-based Alliance
Medical Corp., the nation's biggest reprocessor. That included
percutaneous lead introducers -- long, narrow plastic tubes that
surgeons insert into a vein, such as the jugular. Such devices are
used in cardiac surgery; for example, a surgeon will thread an
electrical wire through the lead introducer into a patient's heart,
which is used to temporarily pace the heart.
On eBay, the reprocessed device had a starting bid of $4.99 --
at least 20 times lower than the regular cost of a lead introducer
package. The eBay seller did not respond to e-mail; there was no
telephone listing for Trimey in Mentor, Ohio, where it stated
online that it was based; and no incorporation records could be
found.
"We don't condone it and certainly don't support" such sales,
said Don Selvey, Alliance's vice president of regulatory affairs
and quality assurance. Alliance has alerted the online service that
reprocessed devices are not to be sold on eBay. Through a
spokesman, he also said he did not know where sellers obtained the
reprocessed devices.
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