PUBLIC
INTEREST LAW PROFESSOR JOHN BANZHAF
http://banzhaf.net/
CONTRIBUTES TO THE WAR ON COVID-19
Here is a small sampling of
articles:
CPAP
Machines Embraced For COVID-19 Patients
"George Washington University Law professor John Banzhaf, an
MIT-trained engineer, and inventor pointed out in an email on
March 22nd, that, in contrast to medical ventilators there are
literally millions of CPAP and similar devices already in use, or
in warehouses waiting to be used. Also, because they are
much simpler to produce, and are currently made by many different
companies, it is also much easier to increase CPAP production
capacity to meet this extraordinary temporary demand; something
not at all true for hospital ventilator machines, says
Banzhaf. Moreover, at an average cost of only about $850,
hospitals would likely be much more willing and able to purchase
enough CPAPs to help meet the growing surge in demand than
ventilators and having trained personnel to operate and maintain
them, says Banzhaf."
WATCH
VIDEO - FDA Approves Use of CPAP Machines as Ventilators
Finally
FDA Permits CPAP Use to Deal With Deadly Shortfall Of Medical
Ventilators; Simple Common Sense Move Could Save Hundreds of
Thousands of Lives
FDA
Finally Authorizes CPAP Use During Ventilator Shortage
"Interestingly, one of the first to
suggest such a strategy, and to widely publicize it, was an
MIT-educated law professor, and inventor with several patents, who
is best known for saving millions of lives by requiring
broadcasters to air antismoking messages, and forcing cigarette
commercials off radio and television."
WATCH
VIDEO - Users Would Donate CPAPs To Meet Part of Ventilator
Shortage Amid COVID-19 Panic
Hospitals
Refusing to Buy or Order Ventilators – Report; Further
Exacerbating Availability Gap, But a Proven Alternative Exists
"Fortunately, there are other devices which have proven to be
successful in similar circumstances, especially for many patients
whose breathing problems do not necessarily require the full power
and sophistication of an expensive hospital-type ventilator,
suggests professor John Banzhaf, an MIT-educated engineer and
inventor with several patents."
Ventilator
shortage – CPAP machines to the rescue?
"But CPAP machines, already in wide use for people who snore,
might be used as a temporary stopgap for those whose ventilator
needs are not as severe and as complicated, suggests professor
John Banzhaf, an MIT-educated engineer and inventor with several
patents."
How
to Sue Hospitals Over Ventilator Shortage Deaths; And Even
Stronger Law Suits Over Failure to Use FDA-Approved
Alternatives Such as CPAP Breathing Machines
"So, notes Banzhaf, a much stronger legal case can be made if a
hospital did not even try to meet the needs of a COVID-19 patient
who needed respiratory assistance to avoid certain death, but who
didn't necessarily require - or at least could survive without -
the full power and sophistication of a hospital ventilator, by
using a simpler medical breathing device such as a CPAP machine,
which is largely employed to reduce snoring and other problems of
sleep apnea."
NYS
to Use Other Breathing Machines During Ventilator Shortage
"Fortunately it takes only a simple adaptor
which can be manufactured on a common 3D printer, so the
specifications for the adaptor can be made available over the
Internet to permit many more conversions, notes professor John
Banzhaf, an MIT-educated engineer and inventor who has been
promoting the idea of using CPAPs and similar breathing machines
to help save lives during the ventilator shortage crisis. He also notes that at least one person suffering
from COVID-19 was reportedly treated successfully using an even
simpler CPAP breathing machine – sometimes called a “poor man’s
ventilator.” Shortly after he
suggested these uses, the federal FDA, and also its Australian
equivalent agency, recommended using such devices during the
crisis. The FDA said: “Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP),
auto-CPAP, and bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP or BPAP)
machines typically used for treatment of sleep apnea (either in
the home or facility setting) may be used to support patients with
respiratory insufficiency provided appropriate monitoring (as
available) and patient condition.”
Increased
CPAP Demand After FDA Suggests CPAP As COVID-19 Treatment
Alternative
"Professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University suggested
"[CPAPs] should more properly be termed life-saving stop-gap
ventilators during the current crisis" in an article for
ValueWalk."
Tracking
Devices Used to Enforce Quarantines – But Unnecessarily;
There’s a Less Expensive Way to Begin Enforcing Coronavirus
Quarantines
"It’s high time authorities began to
enforce quarantines to prevent even more unnecessary deaths, but
there is an easier and much less expensive way to insure
compliance, suggests public interest law professor John Banzhaf,
who researched a similar issue regarding tracking of illegal
immigrants."
CPAP
Machines Fighting COVID-19, As Banzhaf Suggested
"Although hospital ventilators were
initially the standard treatment for COVID-19
patients experiencing breathing difficulties, doctors are now
increasingly first trying CPAP and similar breathing machines
normally used by those with sleep apnea. In this case, CPAPs with
added oxygen are used to avoid putting patients on ventilators
from which most eventually die, notes professor John Banzhaf, an
MIT-educated engineer and inventor who is now a
law professor. Banzhaf was one of the first to suggest and aggressively
publicize using CPAP machines –
sometimes called a “poor man’s
ventilator” – in situations of only moderate respiratory distress
where a patient might not require the
full power and sophistication of a
hospital-type ventilator, especially since the latter involves
very serious risks, and is a treatment
from which many COVID-19 victims never recover."
Easy
Breathe Prepared for Increased CPAP Demand After FDA Suggests
CPAP As COVID-19 Treatment Alternative
"Professor John Banzhaf of George
Washington University suggested "[CPAPs] should more
properly be termed life-saving stop-gap ventilators during the
current crisis."
Coronavirus
Could Decimate Africa, Except For CPAPs; FDA Approves
Application; US Hospitals Increasingly Using
"But a novel
proven strategy now growing in use could make it possible to
provide enough respiratory assistance to save hundreds of
thousands of African lives, even for people who live in remove
villages without access to reliable electricity, much less
ventilators and those trained to operate them, says professor
John Banzhaf, who was one of the first to suggest and
aggressively promote this new procedure.
Of all the tools for fighting the deadly coronavirus
which have come out of universities, this may be one of the most
useful, and one with great potential for saving many lives in
Africa. It is also rather clearly one
of the most unusual, since Banzhaf isn't a medical person, nor
even a scientist and practicing engineer.
Rather, he is an interdisciplinary academic figure
who has made his mark in fields as varied as public health ("The
Man Behind The Ban On Cigarette Commercials"); computer
science, game theory, and political science (the "Banzhaf Index");
and public interest litigation ("a Driving Force Behind the
Lawsuits That Have Cost Tobacco Companies Billions of Dollars").