Talk:Samuel Sears

Notes

Dr. Sears is the world authority on cardiac psychology as it relates to ICD patients. This is a very unique area that it indispensible to the over 1 million people living with ICDs. In addition to this Dr. Sears’s work is critical in offsetting the negatives associated with this life saving technology. Dr. Sears is routinely called upon by the industry to help patients understand and cope with the psychological effects of living with an ICD. This includes both patients and patient’s spouses. To give an idea of the economic significance, ICDs account for 25% of Medtronics corporate revenue. ICD implantation costs $80,000 plus ongoing care. An ICD must be replaced every 5 years ($50,000 for the device alone). Most ICD patients are over retirement age which means this is a significant expensive to government healthcare. It’s important that patients be able to learn about Dr. Sears and his work through sources such as Wikipedia for he is only one man and cannot personally reach even a fraction of the 250,000 patients receiving ICDs each year. His work is changing the way patients and society view ICDs which ultimatley saves many lives. As a part of the East Carolina Heart Institute a new dimension to cardiac disease treatment is being pioneered. Dr. Sears is playing a critical role in a ground breaking program that integrates cardiac psychology into overall patient treatment. --Thencbeach (talk) 03:24, 25 August 2010 (UTC)