Anything related to healthcare has no business being any closer to the whims of "the market" than the public roads.

It would be unheard of for a government to stop maintaining a public road because whomever was supplying some ingredient of the asphalt said that particular mix is "to old and the new mix is not compatible with the roads created using the old mix".

They don't want to do it anymore, fine, then provide whatever is needed for someone else to maintain it for the cost of the materials to print/email/upload to GitHub the technical documents. It should not be legal to get someone hooked on your life altering medical device then rug pull them like this.

Prosthetics that are no longer supported, should be fully open sourced.And the copyright should immediately expire.

Support your products, or let others do it.

Fortunately, Lifeward eventually capitulated and Straight was able to get his exoskeleton repaired — but that was only after an intense campaign in which he went on local TV, got highlighted in a horse industry publication, and gained steam on social media. If it weren't for that, he could still be struggling to find a way to get his mobility back again.

Uhg, needed bad PR before they changed their mind

This is why nobody should ever put any tech in their brain. Among 50 billion other reasons.

The future is stupid, we were promised jetpacks, not planned obsolescence mobility devices.

I was ready to hear something like a story from someone who had signed onto a medical trial and was upset the trial was ending. Nope, instead an absurdly short support period that seemingly is fed by the same culture of replacement over repair that has infected our economy.

Ghost in the Shell called it thirty years ago.

Poor guy, I guess legally he hasn’t got a leg to stand on.

This is something I wish cyberpunk media touched more on.

One thing I always thought about when playing cyberpunk 2077 is why wouldn't companies have a failsafe for their equipment being used against them. In the game, you can use cyber decks from Arisaka and Militech and be able to hack and assault their infrastructure and employees with impunity.

I am not really sure companies would allow that...

I work in appliance repair. My favorite appliance to fix are sub zero refrigerators. They're easy to work on, straight forward and the company continues to support their product as far back as models from the 1970s.

Subzero makes nothing more than household appliances a thankless industry plagued by planner obsolescence and they can supply parts for their appliances longer than a medical company.

[Insert Steel Ball Run Reference Here Because Someone Mentioned A Paralyzed Jockey]

Anyway...

Human Greed is what's obsolete and it is beyond past time to end support for it.

Imagine if Intel snapped and disabled Stephen Hawking's wheelchair and computer, and he needed to pay for a new one with a different voice, absolutely helpless without it.

He shouldn’t stand for this!

We can rebuild him… but we don’t want to spend a lot of money.

cant a battery be rigged to fit? no modders around?

371k steps over 10 years is like 100 steps per day. Is it really slow, or did he only use it once a week?