Philips Responics V-Series IVL

2025: Finding a marriage that killed 8 people

On August 6, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall of defective ventilators manufactured by Philips Responics. The use of this equipment can cause serious harm to the health of patients or provoke a fatal outcome.

The problem affects V30, A30 and A40 devices, which are designed for mechanical ventilation with constant positive pressure (BiPAP). These sets can be periodically reloaded and then started with either the previously set patient settings or factory defaults. During a reboot, the device stops therapy, displaying an empty screen and emitting one beep before restarting. In addition, after three reboots within 24 hours, the set can go down, completely ceasing its functions.

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Фото: Philips

Malfunctions of ventilators can lead to interruption or stopping of therapy. This, in turn, can provoke hypoventilation, hypoxemia, hypercapnia, respiratory failure or death of patients. As of August 2025, eight deaths are known due to the use of defective respiratory equipment Philips Responics. 13 cases of harm to human health are also reported.

V30, A30 and A40 machines provide non-invasive support for adults and children weighing more than 10 kg with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and respiratory failure. The FDA notice says that if there is an alarm about the inoperability of the patient's device, you should immediately connect to an alternative ventilator.^[1]

2020: Philips Respironics V60

The Respironics V60 ventilator with accessories is designed for auxiliary ventilation of the lungs in a continuous or intermittent mode for patients in need of mechanical ventilation, with or without the function of preparing an air-oxygen mixture.

Ventilation modes for December 2020

• CPAP - Constant positive airway pressure. Inhalation and exhalation have constant preset pressure.
• BiPAP S/T - spontaneous/forced time control. With BiPAP, the patient receives the preset inhalation pressure (IPAP) and the preset exhalation pressure (EPAP). A backup breathing rate can also be established. In the case of spontaneous inhalation, the time of inhalation and exhalation is determined by the patient. For forced inhalations, the patient is given a predetermined inhalation time.
• AVAPS (Medium Volume Pressure Support). Improved therapy with AVAPS. The AVAPS algorithm also ensures that the IPAP pressure is automatically adjusted to a given respiratory volume. AVAPS always provides optimal pressure at the right time, depending on the patient's needs.
• PCV - variable pressure ventilation. In this BiPAP ST mode, both forced and spontaneously initiated breathing is performed with a preset inhalation time.
• PPV (proportional pressure ventilation). In this spontaneous breathing mode, pressure support from the IVL apparatus is proportional to the patient's respiratory effort. This is the optimal approach to the physiological spontaneous breathing of the patient, and the comfort of use is increased. The patient can be excommunicated from the ventilator as soon as possible - the ventilation time is reduced.

High flow therapy for patients requiring constant supply of humidified respiratory gas when weaning from NVL^[2].

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