No cell phones in hospitals?!

It is said to interfere with some of the medical machines, but not only the cell phones create this 'disturbance'. They haven't limited it down to any amount of outside interferances. I have heard that it screws with life support machines and heart rate monitors, but some hospitals allow the cell phones in non clinical areas.

I can maybe see it in an ICU unit, but in a patients room I believe it is because they rent phones and tv's to the patients and if you use your cell they loose the money on their phone rental. Where I live we can use it in the waiting rooms. They're out for the money. Like you said, the staff uses theirs.

the reason is it interferes with the machines that are in the hospital. it doesnt matter what floor youre on.

i think it has something to do with the frequancies in the hospital not really sure this is just a guess

Technically, I have never heard that we cannot use them, I just know that generally, in the rooms, they usually don't work. I have talked on my cell phone outside of the rooms, and sometimes I get service in the rooms. Reading what others have written, it does seem to be like the "plane" situation, and so there are rules. That way we don't interfere with machines, just like when we can't use our cell phones during takeoffs and landings on the plane.

I don't know what the reasoning is behind the rule and I'm sure that it may be as someone above suggested, just a way to get more money out of patients for telephone rentals. That being said though, I could not have it on my conscience that my self-centred use of my cell-phone simply for my own convenience might cause danger to someone else's health, if indeed they do interfere with life-saving machines. We are a very selfish society, thinking only of our own interests and convenience. Just because we don't know the reasoning behind a rule or a law does not negate its validity.

hi there, well they say it could interfere with hospital equipment/machinery from the signal of the call, i don't really understand how it could myself like!

Usualy the don't allow them in the hospital in certain areas becuase the cell phone can interfer with some of the sensitive equipment they have, especialy in the ICU and neonatal care. Irratating, I know and they are a bit two faced at times.

*shrugs* who knows but what i do know is that is a pic of the phone you want!!!!

I know there are different types of phone. here in australia there's Digital and CDMA and I think something new now too. So I'm guessing that certain types of systems or something can interfere with the hospital operating systems or their highly specialised digital equipment or something. Think about ultrasounds and MRI and othe rdifgital imaging stuff they use in micro-surgery, keyhole surgery etc. Just my guess. They ask us to turn them off in our Gp's surgeries too.

I actually just read an article on this today. :) Cell phones won't generally cause a disruption in a hospital today. The problem did exist a few years ago, though. When cell phones were all analog instead of digital they emitted a higher amount of micro waves that would then be amplified by certain machines that were used in hospitals. The cell phones that doctors carry now, along with the cell phones that most consumers carry produce a much lower volume of these microwaves so they are much less likely to be amplified by the machinery. Also, most of the machines have added protection now that they didn't have when cell phones were first becoming popular. Of course there are still some old machines in some hospitals that would have problems with analog signal. But because, at least here in the US, hardly anyone still uses an analog phone (my phone company required me to go digital in 2004), even those machines should be safe. But I guess there are still several reasons to still have those signs up. After all, if everyone in the hospital was using their cell phones, it would cause the amount of the waves to go up so much that it would cause interference on some of the older machines. Also a lot of people have ringtones or alerts that sound similar to a real alert that could mean someone's life was in danger.