New Spanish V-16 emergency beacon sparks pacemaker safety fears
Doctors warn drivers in Spain with pacemakers to keep emergency beacons away from their chest
Spain has introduced plenty of laws that has expats rolling their eyes but the V-16 beacon, introduced on January 1 to replace the old warning triangles, is possibly one of the most controversial. There have been rumours of the devices overheating and catching fire, and just last week the police warned they could even help car thieves pinpoint your exact location. Scary stuff.
But now a new concern has come to light, an issue that should really have been comprehensively addressed long before the V-16 was made mandatory. Most of the emergency beacons attach to the roof of cars using magnets, so what does this mean for drivers with pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs)?
Generally speaking, magnets can very easily interfere with the proper functioning of these devices that regulate patients' heart rhythms. Doctors confirm that this could indeed occur if the V-16s are placed "too close to the chest," but emphasise that there’s no real danger once some "common sense" is used.
Somewhat redundantly, the Spanish Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) pointed out that V-16 lights are "for the roof [of the vehicle], not for the chest [of the driver]."
Some V16 beacon instructions include messages like this: "This device has a highly inductive magnetic base; avoid placing it near sources that emit or receive magnetic radiation or pacemakers."
Faced with this situation, a patient who has had one of these implants for almost 10 years and prefers to remain anonymous explained that she feels "abandoned" by the new DGT regulations. Her doctors have already warned her that she cannot and should not use it, she said.
"But what am I supposed to do? I usually drive alone. I keep it in the car, but I know I can't use it without putting my health at risk."
"In Spain, people drive well into their 70s, which is the average age of patients with pacemakers, so there is a population gap: the warning system has been changed, but those of us with pacemakers or defibrillators cannot use it, and the manufacturers do not take responsibility because they expressly warn against it in the instructions," she added.
The Spanish Society of Cardiology (SEC) has published a guide on this topic, explaining that the V-a16 would have to be placed very close to the chest to have any negative impact. The chance of something adverse happening, the paper goes on to explain, is no more likely than other everyday objects like mobile phones, wireless headphones or smartwatches affecting the implanted devices.
Nevertheless, they have issued a series of clear recommendations: keep the beacon away from the chest, avoid resting it on the chest, handle it with the arm opposite the implant, and use it only for the necessary time. As a rule of thumb, once the V-16 is kept about a hands’ width from the pacemaker, the driver should be safe.
As an added precaution, Manuel Martínez-Sellés, Head of the Acute Cardiac Care Section at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid, recommends that drivers with pacemakers or ICDs opt for beacons that attach to the roof with suction cup mounts.
He also recommends that, "ideally, if there is another person in the car, they should handle the beacon, not the person with the pacemaker."
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Image: DGT
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