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An Arm and a Leg

Whoa, this medical device is spying on me. In my sleep. So my insurer can deny me coverage.

An Arm and a Leg

An Arm and a Leg

Documentary, Health & Fitness, Medicine, Society & Culture

4.81.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2019

⏱️ 17 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

That’s the rude awakening Eric Umansky got when he called the company that provided his CPAP machine — a device that helps him breathe at night. He got mad. And he got even, in a way: Eric is an editor at the non-profit newsroom ProPublica,

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Eric Humansky snores really, really loud.

0:04.0

He's got sleep apnea.

0:05.2

That's a condition where your throat closes up

0:07.0

while you sleep.

0:07.6

It makes your breathing actually stop and start.

0:10.5

And it causes snoring.

0:12.3

It's a really annoying thing, it means you're tired,

0:15.0

turns out not to be the best for your health.

0:17.0

Yeah, it can contribute to high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, also, snoring,

0:22.0

not great for a marriage.

0:24.0

Eric has had to spend some nights on the couch.

0:27.0

Fortunately for him, there is a machine that treats sleep apnea.

0:31.0

It's not very complicated, it just basically blows air in your face.

0:34.0

It's called CPAP for continuous positive airway pressure.

0:38.0

It just like literally just like blows the air so your airways stay open. He's had one for like 10 years and he thought the

0:45.4

mask was wearing out. Maybe it was getting old or things were changing but

0:50.5

my wife actually was constantly complaining that I was snoring through my mask.

0:56.8

He called his doctor, doctor said, could be the mask, we'll have the supplier send you a new one,

1:02.0

and we may need to change the settings on the machine.

1:05.3

And that used to be a real pain.

1:07.4

You had to wait for a technician to come to your house.

1:09.8

It's like the cable guy coming by.

...

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