Build Both respirators (low-tech 'iron lungs') to meet ventilator demand

Rejected 13 signatures

What the petition asks

During a polio epidemic in the 1930s, Edward Both created a low-cost (under £100), quick-to-make (under 24 hours) ventilator for people with respiratory failure. The next year, the UK built 1,700 of the devices. Some are still in use today.

The UK should mass-manufacture these simple devices.

Unlike modern 'positive-pressure' ventilators, which push air into the lungs through a tube, Both respirators are a kind of iron lung. They are quicker to build and easier for untrained staff to operate than modern ventilators. Iron lungs are used in UK hospitals today.

A low-tech (even manually-operable) bellows induces low pressure around the patient, causing the patient to inhale, then high pressure, causing the patient to exhale.

See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Both_respirator

Why it was rejected

It asked for something that is not the responsibility of the UK Government or Parliament.

Treatment decisions, including the use of medical devices, is a clincial decision and not one for the Government or Parliament.

You could start a petition calling for the Government to fund research into the use of Both respirators, if that's something you'd like to see happen.

Timeline

19 Mar 2020	Petition opened for signatures
15 Apr 2020	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 13

Status Rejected

Rejected 15 Apr 2020

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