Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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During a widespread North American blackout in August 2003, the authors identified a cluster of patients presenting to their northern Manhattan emergency department (ED) with complaints related to medical device failure. The characteristics of this group with respect to presenting complaint, type of device failure, time spent in the ED, and disposition are described in an effort to better understand the resource needs of this population. ⋯ Patients using electrical medical devices seek care in the ED when power failure occurs, and they require significant ED and hospital resources. Effective disaster planning should anticipate the needs of this population.