Wireless systems in some hospitals are turning some medical equipment into killers.

A Dutch study saying that microchip-based "smart" systems, which are being peddled as improving patient safety, need to be tested to see if they are causing harm. The study found that wireless systems interfere with equipment such as respirators, external pacemakers and kidney dialysis machines. Problems appeared in 123 tests they performed in an intensive-care unit at an Amsterdam hospital.

The problems happened when wireless medical equipment was placed within about one foot of the lifesaving machines. One in five machines suffered from hazardous malfunctions that would probably harm patients. Breathing machines switched off, mechanical syringe pumps stopped delivering medication and external pacemakers packed in.

Hospitals have been getting excited about wireless devices lately because they can be used to tag and keep track of medical equipment and prevent drug counterfeiting. This means that they can be in close proximity to patients machines, according to the author of the study, Dr. Erik Jan van Lieshout from the University of Amsterdam's Academic Medical Centre.

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