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What Happens to Pacemakers?
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Not sure where to ask this but hoping someone can enlighten me. My Mom passed away in 2016 after a long life but was a lifelong smoker and struggled with COPD and heart issues in her last 20 years. She received a pacemaker in 2013 or there abouts and I'm not even sure if it was ever needed. But recently I was visiting my 97 year old Dad and out of nowhere he started discussing Mom's pacemaker, that they are not removed at death (used pacemaker anyone?) and have very long lasting and durable batteries. He was sure her pacemaker was still in her coffin with her, happily humming along for eternity or until the battery does fail. It got me thinking, what is the process / procedure for "disarming" a pacemaker once it's human passes away? Does it sense there's no longer a regular heartbeat (or no heartbeat at all) and continually try to shock the non working heart back into action? I know my Mom's pacemaker was monitored remotely - does a patient's cardiologist disable a pacemaker remotely once they're aware the patient has passed away? I'm not necessarily disturbed about envisioning a dutiful pacemaker continuing to shock my Mom's heart - it's actually kind of comforting if you think about it - but I am curious about how our modern world solves these issues. TIA!!

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2 years ago