The Flaws of Fall Detection in Medical Alert Buttons

Medical alert systems are meant to be the front line protectors of elderly, a surefire way to call for help in a dire situation. Personal emergency buttons come in many shapes and forms, and the companies all swear to safeguard their aging customer’s well being. However, there are always exceptions or unfortunate events where the device fails to do its duty. There are instances when the button’s signal cannot reach the monitoring center, the base units are sending false alarms or are just not operational during the emergency. Still, the most controversial feature is the fall detection, which isn’t guaranteed to work accurately 100% of the time, yet it’s often advertised as being perfect. Lifeline is undoubtedly guilty in these senses, which lead to an unfortunate demise to one of their customers.

Fall detection: A questionable service?

This isn’t the first time Philips Lifeline’s fall detection technology failed to save the wearer’s life. An elderly woman from Lutz shared the same fate as Mrs. McDonalds, and she also used the company’s auto alert button. Philips Lifeline states that their fall detection works only 95% of the time, and certain situations may stop the button from activating. The automatic fall detection pendant is using accelerometers, highly sensitive barometric sensors and an algorithm that is meant to differentiate a fall and sitting down, for instance. The problem is, this kind of technology is most suited to pick up the drastic height changes produced when a standing adult suddenly collapses. However, the button might miss the more subtle signs. When the wearer faints, and slowly slips to the ground, or falls from less than 0.5 meter, then the algorithm won’t raise the alarm.