[Electrical risks and safety during the monitoring (author's transl)]

The different sorts of medical equipment, whose number is constantly increasing in the last few years in the patients environment, entail several kinds of risk for patients, users and surroundings. The authors give a few examples of these risks, which may occur in particular during the monitoring of physiological parameters and urge the people concerned to observe, in their own interest, the very strict safety rules imposed by the new I.S.O. (International Organization for Standardization) and I.E.C. (International Electrotechnical Commission) international standards. These standards, already made known through official publications, or as intended to replace national standards, which are often out of date in comparison to the evolution of medical technology. It is regretable that some people responsible for medical research have not attached sufficient importance to the safety problems of equipment used in medical practice.