ABC News: Jammers Offer Solution to Cell Phone Disturbances

These have been in the news a lot lately, and I have to say I'm a bit bothered...

Someone could seriously loose their life over one of these, and I'm not being fesieous...

A few years ago, following a surgery for a total right hip replacement (I had the left replaced 2 years earlier), I developed a serious infection. I was living with my parents at the time & they had left to go on a camping trip...

I had called in to work sick that morning (it was a Thursday, I think I had Friday/Saturday as my weekend) as I had been feeling terrible the past few days. That morning I was very dizzy, and was certain I had low blood sugar (being a Diabetic), though it was very odd as no matter how much sugar I took in (I remember drinking a whole carton of orange juice and drinking maple surup out of the bottle), I did feel any better...

I had called 911 when I was barely holding on to conceousness. I barely had enough energy to go open the door for the police officer that had arrived. I remember sitting on the couch in the living room and barely remember being wheeled into the ambulance a few minutes later...

I was taken to the hospital unconceous, in the process of undergoing septic shock. I apparently had a heart attack, and severly high blood sugar giving me diabetic asidosis...

Upon ariving at the hospital, the doctors gave me somewhere between a 5% to 10% chance of survival (so I litarally had a 90% chance of dieing). The doctor called my family into an office to tell them I was going to die...

I was VERY fortuante to have survived. However, had I not been able to call 911 WHEN I did, I would be dead right now. No maybe's about it... I WOULD be dead...


The thing that scares me about the cell phone jamming, is that as of today a cell phone is the ONLY phone I have. I did not get a land line phone because in the begining I couldn't afford it, and now I don't want to stretch the money I currently have to pay for it now...

The thing is, my appartment building is with walking distance of two hotels (walking distance for me, keep in mind I have 2 artifial hips). I can see one of them out my bedroom window and the other is directly in front of the complex's parking area... There's also a handfull of resteraunts which are in a 1/4 mile radius from my building, AND a movie theater around a 1/2 mile away. And these doesn't even take into account the posibility of someone in the complex who may buy one to block off calls to a spouce or child...

If any of these places were to get a jammer, and they so happened to cut my signal, under this type of curcumstance I would in fact be as good as dead. Being a Diabetic I also have to worry about things such as low blood sugar. If I got to a point where I couldn't walk into my kitchen (and there have been occasions in the past where this has happened), if I could not call out, I again would be dead...

The fact is, if the use for these things expand, it won't be a matter of if someone will die who could have been saved, it will be a matter of when...

I agree cell phones can be a major disruption, but most places that seem to be talking about using them don't seem to have even tried alternatives. Is someone's phone in a movie theater or other type of theater rings, they should be thrown out. I've never once seen this happen, and I've often wondered why...

And of corse for the others who use them simply to be funny, or to try to block someone specific: Remember it's not only illegal (and you could be fined $11,000 and spend a year in Jail), but if you end up being the one to cause someone's death over it, you will be guilty of manslaughter... While you're sitting there laughing at some guy who keeps loosing his call, someone next door could be having a heart attack, and be unable to call 911... If that was someone you knew or cared about, I doubt you would be laughing at that point in time...