Question in the tittle. A friend of mine mentioned to me that a sonographic scanner was stolen yesterday from a small hospital behind her house.
I was left wondering why someone would steal that. It there a “black market” for medical equipment? Who would buy “hot” second hand medical apparatus? Or maybe there are components in a scanner that can be used for another purpose? Does someone have a clue? Do such cases of theft happen frequently in hospitals?
It could very well be that particularly with medical equipment someone had no real idea what it was or a reasonable estimation as to its value. It simply ‘looked expensive’ and could be had without getting caught, so they took it.
For all they knew it might be a Geriatrically spatial, Nutella powered Velocitybob. That a resale market for such might be limited to non-existant, that hospitals probably don’t just buy such devices off the street, may never have crossed their mind or been dismissed out of wishful thinking.
My industry uses sonic based equipment extensively but it’s very specific as to its purpose and the resale or reuse of such is by no means widespread, certainly not outside a professional environment.
Looking into this a bit further, the point is made that many hospitals being public facilities will have varying degrees of security but they’re certainly not fortresses. The resale of such equipment afterwards may be difficult in a local sense and, therefore, the market may be in Eastern European or third world countries.
Scrap metal? Lots of aluminum, stainless, copper, etc.
Something nasty does come to mind. A modern scanner used for obstetric purposes can differentiate the sex of the foetus. Not perfectly, but the imaging is not bad. This could have been a very well planned targeted theft, for someone who has a very specific and utterly unethical business plan.
Why bother? Determining the sex of a foetus isn’t illegal.
No, I have in mind ethnic subcultures where females are not so desired. It isn’t illegal, but providing a “service” that only determines the sex of a foetus, does start to become unethical. Really just a random thought as to why a scanner would be valuable to someone outside of normal honest society.
There is most certainly a black market in medical equipment, right here in the US.
Who buys them? Doctor’s offices, clinics, “refurbishers” (legit and not) who sell them to doctor’s offices, clinics and hospitals…
True, a large hospital probably won’t take the bait,'cause they’re going to order half a dozen machines at a discount. But there are tons of underfunded clinics and small private hospitals who aren’t going to ask too much if a guy in a suit comes in to offer them a great deal on a refurbished ultrasound machine.
ETA: Like, and I don’t at all want to come off like I’m accusing them, for all I know they’re 100% legit, but these guys sell used, refurbished ultrasound machines.
:smack: Of course, **clairobscur **doesn’t live in the US. My apologies, clair’. But I’d bet there are similar businesses and buyers in France.
Lots of gold in them thar circuit board contacts. And sonographic scanners probably have a lot of circuit boards. Other than that, check EBay or Craigslist - people will buy the darnedest things.
I belive that it is in India where female babies are routinely aborted. Back alley sonographers (I kid you not) determine the sex of your baby illegally using chinese made (read cheap) equipment.
They probably just couldn’t afford one themselves.
When I worked in dialysis, we had 7 new dialysis machines stolen from the loading dock. They were found, by ther serial numbers in another state in a small private dialysis unit.
Well, on this board, I didn’t really expect to get France-specific answers. I assumed that answers valid in the USA, UK, Australia, whatever, would probably apply in France too. I had no clue that hospitals or hospital providers could end up buying/selling stolen equipment. I guess I assumed such things would be somehow closely monitored and tracked, since they’re used in medical practice (serial numbers, forms, official certification, whatever…). In fact I wasn’t even sure there was a real market for even honestly acquired second hand equipment.
Also, about gender-selection that some posters mentioned. That was the first thought my friend had about the motive, but obviously, if you’re in France, you’re going to know the gender of your child if you want to and regarding countries like India : would it make sense, financially, to ship such equipment from Europe to Asia?
It seems you’re right. There are indeed ultrasound scanners sold on ebay 
:dubious: