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St. Paul, Minn.

Defibrillator patients ask doctors about Medtronic failures

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People with Medtronic defibrillators got a jolt this week when the company decided to stop distributing the wires that connect the devices to patients' hearts.

Fridley-based Medtronic says a small number of those wires have fractured and may have led to the deaths of five patients. The wires in question have been implanted in over a quarter-million people worldwide. The company estimates 2.3 percent of those patients will experience unnecessary shocks as a result of fractured wires.

MPR's Tom Crann talked to Dr. Steve Hustead, who implants a lot of Medtronic's defibrillation devices and he has been hearing from patients this week.