When children and adults are unable to breathe on their own, they rely on medical technology to breathe for them. This technology comes in many forms; tracheal tubes and resuscitation devices are common examples of equipment that can help people take in one of life’s most important elements—oxygen.
Tracheal tubes are inserted into a person’s nose, mouth, or throat and provide a channel to the lungs where life-sustaining oxygen is pumped in and used by the body. Resuscitation devices are an important companion to tracheal tubes; if a person is still unable to breathe following the placement of a tracheal tube, resuscitation devices provide constant ventilation and serve as life-saving support.
What happens when those life-saving devices fail? What happens when they fail due to faulty manufacturing? People’s lives are put at risk. That’s exactly what happened when AirLife Resuscitation Devices were recalled from the market in 2017.