GE Portable Ultrasound Puts Prenatal Babies in Your Hand
4 Comments
Thursday, October 22, 2009 by Michael Kwan
Print This Post
FREE Email Newsletter
When your spouse is pregnant with your progeny, you inevitably have to make that visit to the doctor’s office so that you can see the fetus in development. This can take a huge chunk of time out of your day. Wouldn’t it be more convenient if you could just do it with a more portable device? Thanks to the wonders of General Electric, you can!
GE has just revealed the GE VScan Portable Ultrasound and it’s exactly what you think it is: a portable ultrasound. Using this cell phone-shaped device, you can get a look inside the belly of any pregnant woman and show her the bun cooking up in her oven. GE won’t cover any lawsuits that may come as a result.
On a more serious note, this probably won’t be much of a preferred device for regular consumers, but it could come in really handy for paramedics, midwives, and other personnel who are constantly on the road. The ultrasound is not only for babies in the making, but also for fluid buildups around vital organs and so on.
Not surprisingly, General Electric isn’t dishing out much information for pricing or availability, but they’ll probably be connecting with local hospitals and doctors some time soon.
Source: Gadgetreview
Ultrasounds are not an inevitability in pregnancy. No woman is mandated to have one in her pregnancy, despite what incomplete or misinformation she may have been given by peers or obstetricians. Unfortunately, there are to date no long term studies showing the safety of routine use of ultrasound technology. Unless it is medically indicated (pregnancy alone not being a medical indication), having an ultrasound is not necessary. People who are not trained in the use of ultrasound technology should not have personal and routine access to it (Sorry Mr. Cruise). I hope this new GE gadget will not be marketed directly to the general public as it will perpetuate the safety myth of routine ultrasound use.
Oh goody, another device to bombard fetuses with sound waves. Like home dopplers aren’t bad enough.
Laura said it better than I could have. I desperately hope these will only be available to medical professionals(including midwives), will require training for use & will come with some major warnings
I have 3 children, and have NEVER had an ultrasound. My pregnancies were perfectly normal and there was never a need. You can have a healthy baby without ultrasound scans. They are NOT necessary, but, in my opinion, have become a novelty that has never been proven as safe. Like the commenters above, it is my hope that these devices will be limited to use by medical professionals.
I agree. Thank you ladies for your comments.