Portable CPAP: What to do with it?

J

JOhnH

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I bought a Breas Z1 about 5 years ago and only used it once. I tend to mouth breathe and without a humidifier my mouth gets too dry. I tried a chin strap but between the mask and the strap, things kept getting tangled up. So now I just back up my regular CPAP and the portable has bee sitting in a drawer since then.

I finally decided to sell it but I find out that you can only sell prescriptive medical hardware to a medical equipment broker. I contacted a few used Med Equipment brokers but they can't buy it because they have a contract with Breas to only buy Breas equipment from them. I contacted Breas and they can't help in any way, and were sort of rude to me for asking.

I tried to donate it to charity, but most of them only take new(ish) stuff with SD cards or other data logger. This doesn't have that.

Does anyone have any other suggestion? It works perfectly and includes manuals, a carry bag and three each factory sealed HMEs (Heat, Moisture Exchangers) and filters.

I'd hate to send it to the land fill.
 
Yeah, there are legit health and safety issues with selling equipment. The vendor doesn't want it, because they don't know what you've done with it. They don't want the liability, so would have to reman it and probably don't sell that model anymore.

If you sell it, you probably have some liability exposure if it fails and the buyer dies, and sleep apnea can absolutely be deadly.

I am probably more cavalier than most when it comes to risk and rule following. But this one gives me pause. Maybe I'm just in a skittish mood this morning. But we do live in a litigious nation.
 
172andyou said:
Yeah, there are legit health and safety issues with selling equipment. The vendor doesn't want it, because they don't know what you've done with it. They don't want the liability, so would have to reman it and probably don't sell that model anymore.

If you sell it, you probably have some liability exposure if it fails and the buyer dies, and sleep apnea can absolutely be deadly.

I am probably more cavalier than most when it comes to risk and rule following. But this one gives me pause. Maybe I'm just in a skittish mood this morning. But we do live in a litigious nation.
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I think you are right.
But I did get an offer to allow me to ship it to Houston at my expense to a charity that provides that type of medical equipment to poor people in 3rd world countries. (Alabama maybe?)

At least I would get a receipt for tax purposes. I paid over $900 for this new so I'd probably think I could swing about a $600 tax deduction.
 
I'm in a similar boat... I have a top-of-the-line Resmed Airsense 11 sitting in my closet. I got it basically because my health insurance company is stupid (long-ish story that's not relevant here)... turns out it doesn't help me and so it's collecting dust in my closet. A shame. I'd like to let it be useful to someone....but it's just not the kind of thing anyone can buy and use straight out.

I've thought a few times about putting it up on ebay, but I'm not so sure about that for some of the reasons already mentioned.

Interestingly enough, just yesterday (before I saw this thread) I was talking to a coworker who is going through the process and about to do a sleep study. He's on his wife's insurance so coverage etc. is an unknown for me... anyway, I offered that IF his insurance company gives him grief about getting one like mine did, then he'd be welcome to mine if his doc says he needs one. Made it clear that his do would have to set it up for him, get new masks and hoses, etc....
 
JOhnH said:
I think you are right.
But I did get an offer to allow me to ship it to Houston at my expense to a charity that provides that type of medical equipment to poor people in 3rd world countries. (Alabama maybe?)

At least I would get a receipt for tax purposes. I paid over $900 for this new so I'd probably think I could swing about a $600 tax deduction.
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Perfect! Then someone benefits from the device and you net $100-200 from your tax burden!
 
stuff like this used to be leased instead of owned, but the prices have lowered so much and tech changes so quickly they can’t make money that way anymore. I guess that’s a good thing.
 
Honestly, it's not that big of a deal to program it, it's much easier than a NAV in a GA airplane to set the limits/ramp/etc. My machine is pretty new, but I consider getting one of those in this thread for my folks house, as it lets me travel lighter. If someone wants to sell one, PM me. People sell them all the time.

I don't endorse someone not working with their doctor to get the right CPAP treatment, but for someone who has a prescription, I don't know why a used piece would be a big deal.
 
MIFlyer said:
I don't endorse someone not working with their doctor to get the right CPAP treatment, but for someone who has a prescription, I don't know why a used piece would be a big deal.
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Because the US is litigious.

I would happily sell you a cpap so that you could mine it for parts to play with in your electronics lab. I probably wouldn't sell you one to use as a medical device.

I suppose if you later decided to use the device instead of de-soldering the LCD and sensors for a project, I couldn't stop you...
 
I'd reckon there's someone out there who already has one, who might want yours, if only for the consumables. I could see being in the same position for my oxygen concentrator columns and batteries...

Might be able to find someone on your local neighborhood listserv/craigslist/freecycle/buy nothing facebook group/whatever they call it this year. Or ebay, or https://www.dotmed.com/ .
 
MIFlyer said:
Honestly, it's not that big of a deal to program it, it's much easier than a NAV in a GA airplane to set the limits/ramp/etc. My machine is pretty new, but I consider getting one of those in this thread for my folks house, as it lets me travel lighter. If someone wants to sell one, PM me. People sell them all the time.

I don't endorse someone not working with their doctor to get the right CPAP treatment, but for someone who has a prescription, I don't know why a used piece would be a big deal.
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I'm not real sure but I don't think the Breas Z1 is user programmable. They had to get my prescription and pre-set it before sending it.
My Air Sense is programmable, or you can even put it in automatic mode and it "senses" your breathing pattern and self adjusts. I don't understand how because it is magic.
 
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