AMD disclaimer--WTH???

[Kung Lau]

I was reading the small print on my AMD Athlon COA and limited warranty details because I am going to have to RMA my 2 year old retail Athlon 1.4 when I ran across this:

" AMD's products are not designed, intended, authorized or warranted for use as components in systems intended for surgical implant into the body, or in other applications intended to support or sustain life, or in any other application in which the failure of AMD's product could create a situation where personal injury, death, or severe property or environmental damage may occur. AMD reserves the right to discontinue or make changes to it's products at any time without notice."

I thought AMD had become more mainstream and corporate. How can a company like this compete with Intel with stipulations like this?

Does anyone know if Intel has a similar disclaimer? I mean, not being able to use an AMD cpu inside a hospital computer seems pretty bad.

 

[Pepsi90919]

it's a legal clause.

 

[Confused]

This is the COA for a retail, Athlon CPU. They would more than likely have special, probably embedded, processors for use in life support systems. Plus, do you really think it needs a 1.4Ghz processor in order to keep an eye on a few sensors!


Confused

 

[fr]

They are just covering their ass. They don't want to be responsible if something bad happens.

 

[DaiShan]

Hospitals don't really use personal Pc's to monitor patients... If I go into the hospital I don't want the friggin machine that is supposed to keep me alive during surgery having a BSOD...

 

[Compton]

I suppose Borg implants use Intel processors.

 

[MikeO]

Originally posted by: DaiShan
Hospitals don't really use personal Pc's to monitor patients... If I go into the hospital I don't want the friggin machine that is supposed to keep me alive during surgery having a BSOD...

Yeah, that would give BSOD a whole another meaning

 

[Shade4ever]

Originally posted by: Compton
I suppose Borg implants use Intel processors.

Actually, think about it: The Borg look like all their implants come from more or less the same source, so I'd say they're actually the future of Apple customers. Yet another reason to not touch them.

 

[dullard]

Typical legal stuff to prevent lawsuits. I'm actually going to be using that almost exact same warning on a research product I'm working on. It is a machine that can detect diseases much more quickly than current technology (it isn't anything new, but just a lot faster). It hopefully will be in every hosipital and doctor's office. Yet it will have a clear warning saying not to use it to test for human diseases. It will mean the hospital/doctor is to blame if the test goes wrong. They already pay hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars per year for medical insurance. As a small company (3 people) we cannot afford that insurance.

I'm looking at a catalog right now from Omega. They are selling Hypodermic and Mini Hypodermic Probes. These probes are "designed for continuous monitoring of rectal temperatures". But on the same page it says "they are not intended for medicinal use, or on humans". They then show picutures of a rabbit - trust me that probe won't fit in a rabbit. The probe is meant for and will be used for medicinal uses and on humans. But it saves you from lawsuits...

Edit: found a slightly different version online for some probes (sorry no rabbit here). Scroll down to the bottom and read the warning between the grey boxes.

 

[teckmaster]

Its just one of those things that companies do. Its loke the Do not use while sleeping warning on a curling iron

 

[Demon-Xanth]

As someone currently working in the medical industry, I can say this:

There is a basic formula for considering if a failure mode is acceptable:
Frequency+noticability+severity
With the worst case scenario being an error that happens all the time, noone can tell, but it endangers the life of the patient. In the case of life support systems the acceptable level is VERY low as the patient is depending on the system, and a quick reboot just isn't acceptable. So life support system components are tested up the wazoo to make sure that they WON'T fail for any reason whatsoever.


Edit:
And that is a standard disclaimer that's found on many datasheets.

 

[Kung Lau]

I fully realize it's a disclaimer, but was wondering if Intel had a similar one or if the rest of the business/medical world that uses pc's can live with this particular type of disclaimer.

Although the everyday pc or even a business end model from Dell may not be directly connected to a life saving instrument on a patient, there are numerous other reasons and instances a pc may be used to directly monitor or provide medical assistance to people. I saw several nice Dells just yesterday in a hospital that were hooked up to dozens of leads and the patient in the neurological section. Lifesaving or not, if the possibility exists that if the computer failed, some kind of situation could arise that could hurt the patient. Yet, this computer was being used...(Dell, obviously Intel)

I just believe that the disclaimer is very broad and wonder if Intel has one just as broad sweeping.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Life saving and monitoring are two different things.

 

[toant103]

Originally posted by: Kung Lau
I was reading the small print on my AMD Athlon COA and limited warranty details because I am going to have to RMA my 2 year old retail Athlon 1.4 when I ran across this:

" AMD's products are not designed, intended, authorized or warranted for use as components in systems intended for surgical implant into the body, or in other applications intended to support or sustain life, or in any other application in which the failure of AMD's product could create a situation where personal injury, death, or severe property or environmental damage may occur. AMD reserves the right to discontinue or make changes to it's products at any time without notice."

I thought AMD had become more mainstream and corporate. How can a company like this compete with Intel with stipulations like this?

Does anyone know if Intel has a similar disclaimer? I mean, not being able to use an AMD cpu inside a hospital computer seems pretty bad.

can't be too safe these days. Ppl are sueing left and right, maybe up and down too.

 

[Kung Lau]

Why does a patient need to be monitored? Because they could have a condition that develops under certain circumstances. If the condition does arise, the monitoring computer is supposed to record the data, alert the medical staff and possibly do other functions. Although not directly lifesaving, I believe AMD wanted no liability even in this aspect by stating that:
"...or in any other application in which the failure of AMD's product could create a situation where personal injury, death, or severe property or environmental damage may occur."

They fully dealt with support and sustainment of life uses in the sentence prior to this.

If the monitoring computer failed and did not detect a heart attack or something along those lines, the patient may survive, but AMD absolves themselves from any liability.

I fully understand the need for liability clauses and disclaimers, I'm merely stating that the statement above seems very general and covers such a broad condition ("...any other application in which the failure of AMD's product could create a situation where personal injury..." that AMD computers would not be trusted in many workplaces. I understand that Intel is still king of the cpu market, but wonder if it was disclaimers like this that prevents more Fortune 500 company's from embracing AMD.

 

[Gage8]

Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: Compton
I suppose Borg implants use Intel processors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



na, they probably like macs

 

[ElFenix]

intel processors and MS windows have the same disclaimer.

 

[Kung Lau]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
intel processors and MS windows have the same disclaimer.

Thanks, that explains everything.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

As far as the monitoring equipment not recording something:
Then you end up with a missing reading, not a missing heartbeat.
The difference is in the immediate consequences. There will likely be more readings.

 

[iwearnosox]

I still use an overclocked 300a in my body. On hot days I sometimes need to reboot.