[dredmorbius]

My recollection is that there was an intentional limit on what parts were compatible with what ventilators, essentially DRM or filter tying/bundling. This denied healthcare facilities the flexibility to pair consumable components from third-party manufacturers with a specific ventilator.

(I've been looking for articles to support this without joy so far, though there were numerous articles on "open source" ventilator concepts, such as this one: <https://journal.valeriansaliou.name/makair-series-the-incept...>.)

This goes above and beyond basic market function, though yes, I suppose you could say that it was rooted at some level in capitalist short-term-profit-maximising practices.

[jtode]

Far as I'm concerned, medical devices should be "nationalized" to the degree that all designs are 100% open from the most easily-sourceable parts available and must be 100% interoperable. DRM should be outlawed rather than enshrined.