Strome Business Minute With Dr. Jeff Tanner

When COVID struck, ventilators became central in the fight to keep patients alive. But high levels of use quickly overwhelmed the equipment and companies’ ability to repair the equipment. Technicians were further hampered by supply chain disruptions for parts, the inability to travel to distant cities to do repairs, and just the sheer volume of repairs needed. Some parts, like valves, can be three D printed. But hospitals couldn’t do the repairs because they didn’t have the manuals. That changed last week when iFixit, a website promoting the right to repair the products you buy, posted the repair manuals of thousands of medical equipment products. The right to repair movement, though, faces copyright restrictions on the manuals, setting up the chance for legal consequences from manufacturers who don’t want to lose the business. To learn more, visit odu.edu/business. This Strome Business Minute is presented by the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University.