The support gap: discontinued medical implants in six countries
What happens to people when the maker of their implant stops supporting it. Case studies of four device families, with recommendations for makers, regulators and hospitals.
What happens to people when the maker of their implant stops supporting it? This report follows wearers of four discontinued devices in six countries, from the announcement of the end of support to the years afterwards.
We interviewed 187 wearers and the clinicians who treat them, and reviewed the support notices, contracts and firmware licences of the four makers.
Key findings
- For three of the four devices, wearers had a period of up to three years with no support from anyone.
- The commonest failure was a battery; the most dangerous was a software certificate that expired and locked clinics out of the device.
- More than half the wearers interviewed had been offered a replacement by surgery as the only option.
- Keeping a discontinued device working cost a fraction of replacing it in every case studied.
- Recommendations for makers, regulators and hospitals, which the working group reviewing KF-OS 1 in 2026 is using to strengthen section 3.
How to cite
Continuity programme, Kiroshi Foundation (2024). The support gap: discontinued medical implants in six countries. KF-R-2024-01. Tokyo: Kiroshi Foundation. kiroshi.org/research/publications/kf-r-2024-01/
Download the full report (PDF). For other formats, write to research@kiroshi.org.