About Medtronic, My Medtronic rep said to call Medtronic and ask for some financial help in paying for the frequent checks needed because of the re-call on the leads. The rep said that the Company would assist. Guess What?

No assistance available for more frequent checks, (about 150.00 per check for me) and I must go every 30 days.

I guess the Company doesn't feel that any further responsibility is needed for the lead re-call.

Cindy (in Texas w/horses)

Might want to have your provider contact Medtronic with reasons they want that every 30 days, maybe they can work it out!

Best of luck to you, Hope it works out for you.

So, right after the recall, my cardiologist had me send reports every 30 days, but now they have said that is not needed. YOu might want to check with your cardiologist again.

You may have a choice when an ICD is implanted proactively, but like a lot of us, I just woke up with mine like a free parting gift on the Price is Right for surviving cardiac arrest.

I'm hoping the Medtronic Virtuoso is recall free, and I can keep it for 20 years. I don't want a Lexus - in this case, a good Toyota will do me nicely!

This is one of those areas you have to leave to a professional. Even if I had the background and specialized education required to make an informed decision on this I'm not sure I would want to. What do you do next year when the technology takes a leap forward. This isn't a car or a laptop where you can go get the newest model every year.

Then you have to stay up with all the advances in ICD technology.

Then there is the decision as to which one is best for you. I could see that EP's could disagree as to which brand/model suited your health situation. So you get down to a question of which doc likes to work with which brand/model.

Then I could see driving myself absolutely crazy second guessing my decision.

My nightmare scenario would be, being an EP, then having to have an ICD implanted.

Mine is a cardiac resynchronization therapy device (CRT-D) Cognis from Boston Scientific. It's a pacemaker and defib. So far it's doing a good job pacing my heart. Does anyone know how much their devices cost?

Yes, I know how much mine cost - the first one was $34,000 Australian - just for ICD - the second was $69,000 - that's without surgeon's fees, hospital expenses etc/ The third one was a replacement by Medtronic and cost me nothing. BTW - my Health Insurance paid for everything. This sure is 'the lucky country' !!

Eve & Blabbermouth 111

My insurance picked up the tab on mine too. My device was billed from the hospital at $103,750. plus the leads and hospital stay, surgeon, OR etc. meds. I'm expensive but my hubby says I'm worth it

Just got a statement for my ICD replacement.

I'm not sure exactly what is on this bill (if it's everything or not), because I can't see the detailed
statement yet, just a total.

I just had an ICD replacement (no lead replacement), and the total SO FAR is at $71,000.