What happens when medical device companies ‘abandon’ patients with experimental brain implants?
Professor Frédéric Gilbert says a growing number of patients will be abandoned when clinical trials go bust.
Back in 2010, Rita Leggett received a brain implant that changed her life.
She had lived with severe chronic epilepsy for decades, but she received a neural device — known as a brain–computer interface (BCI) — as part of a clinical trial.
It detected oncoming seizures, sending an alert to a handheld device that gave Ms Leggett enough of a warning for her to administer prophylactic clonazepam.
Her seizures reduced from three a month to zero.
