Wireless patient devices at risk from proposed Internet use

The technical glitches share a potential source: the proposed use of unoccupied TV airwaves for high-speed Internet service across the country.

While television networks and wireless microphone users have been fighting the idea, the medical community is also sounding the alarm over possible interference from unlicensed portable gizmos operating in a nearby spectrum. The spectrum's valuable wireless real estate has attracted technology companies and consumer advocates who say it shouldn't remain vacant.

Hospitals and medical device makers say using empty channels for unlicensed uses is a matter of life and death, not just a source of static for entertainment outlets. It could disrupt the monitoring of patients' heart rates, blood oxygen levels and other vital signs at medical facilities.

"If they stop functioning for a period of time, you don't know the patient's physiological condition. This is patient care at its most basic level," says Dale Woodin, executive director of the American Society of Healthcare Engineering, an arm of the American Hospital Association.

Medical device maker GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Co., has also weighed in, asking the Federal Communications Commission to proceed carefully in its decision to permit broadband use through those idle channels, commonly known as "white spaces."

In an FCC filing last week, the company requested stricter standards to protect wireless patient-monitoring equipment, such as heart, blood pressure and respiration devices, from being overwhelmed by other equipment operating in nearby channels.

The FCC is conducting tests to find an efficient and interference-free way to use the spectrum for broadband, but several trial devices have either broken down or failed. A spokesman said some additional lab tests may be needed, but the agency will start field testing soon.

Those white spaces, prized for their ability to travel long distances and go through walls, will be made available when the nation makes a transition to digital TV next February. After the switch, broadcasters will occupy channels 2 through 51, but almost half those channels in some cities will remain fallow, especially in rural areas where there are fewer broadcasters.

Technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc., have said low-powered, unlicensed and portable devices such as cell phones, laptops and BlackBerrys, can operate safely in the empty spectrum without harming other signals. They say it will provide affordable high-speed Internet and spur innovation.