the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 23, 2025
Thousands of Philips Respironics mechanical respirators and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines with dangerous and potentially fatal flaws are still in use in Mexican hospitals, even though the problems have been public information for years.
The machines pump air for people with difficulty breathing. But noise-reducing foam padding can shred tiny, abrasive, cancer-causing particles into the pumped air, especially in hot, humid conditions. The company learned of the problem in 2009 but kept selling them. Some machines also automatically stop pumping air when patients cough, which is when they need air the most!
During the COVID pandemic Philips made a show of donating 2,000 E30 ventilators to the Mexican government for use in hospitals. The company also sold more than 530 of six kinds of defective machines to two dozen Mexican states and cities, and the machines are still being sold there.
As customer lawsuits racked up around the world, Philips finally offered to recall its machines in 2021 but did nothing to take them back and fix them, especially in Mexico. A Mexican lawyer estimates as many as 30,000 patients have died so far from these machine faults in Mexican hospitals.
Capitalists stop at nothing to make more profit. In a poor country like Mexico, the human cost means even less to them.