Penn study examines patients' perspectives on deactivation of ICDs in end-of-life

(University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine) Most patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) -- small devices placed in a person's chest to help treat irregular heartbeats with electrical pulses, or shocks -- haven't thought about device deactivation if they were to develop a serious illness from which they were not expected to recover. But given changes in healthcare, there may be a new reason to do so.