Medical Equipment

[mikeore]

Hey, You guy's have probaly beat this horse in to the ground but here go's. What kind of PM's are in say, x-ray machines, I.V. infusers, the ever present monitoring machinery?
I wonder where you get the data on this sort of thing.

 

[jimdoc]

I think most medical equipment would be in the
expensive, and made to last and be dependable
category. I doesn't hurt to check any of this stuff
that you can get for free. I scrap everything I can
get, you get alot of aluminum, brass and copper
along the way also. I scrapped a Grass polygraph
and it had alot of gold plated electronic parts, and
silver electrodes. It also had 10 or 12 huge magnets
that are about 4"x4" and 1" thick that are probably
rare earth that you really got to watch your fingers
don't get pinched with.
Contacts and keypads are another thing to check
on medical equipment.
Jim

 

[mikeore]

Thank's JIm, from my limited experience I have noticed that the more important the function of the machine the more gold it has in it. Circuit stability perhaps?

 

[Shaul]

I also have access to junked medical equipment on a fairly regular basis.
In my experience almost all of it has something recoverable in terms of precious metals. Remember! nothing is too small not to be disassembled at least once to see what's inside. I've found gold plating even inside small digital thermometers.
A couple years ago I received 750 Glucometers (sml. handheld unit for testing blood sugar, mostly for diabetics). A certain medical organization received a donation of these 750 units from abroad, but upon their arrival found that the check sticks didn't exist in Israel, and so they were basically useless. Added to that, all of the packages had been broken open by the customs authority so they couldn't be sold or returned. I was able to take possession for no more than the cost of hauling it away. Upon opening I found that 95% of them had gold plated boards.
Another thing is wrist-mounted digital blood pressure units (looks like a large watch), the boards are usually gold plated.
Maybe with this new idea of creating a central photo database we can give people a better understanding of what's available and what to look for.

 

[mikeore]

Hey Shaul, I am doing some reaserch on this. Will post when I come up with something concrete.
OT, how's the wheather in Israel? you guy's do any gold mining over there?

 

[Shaul]

Thanks for asking. No Gold mining as far as I know; also the weather is variable, we're just starting our winter season with heavy rain forecast over the next couple of days. Rainy season is only between Oct. & May (approx.) Good weekend to stay home. As for medical equip. I should have been clearer in my previous post. I was speaking of high-end units for gold recovery. There are tons of things classed as medical equip, that may contain copper, aluminum etc. but no gold or other precious metals which is why I say that there is no machine too small that it is not worth disassembling (at least once) to see what's inside.

Shaul

 

[Lou]

I'm sure this has been mentioned, and sorry for rehashing it but does anyone know where the platinum is in a catheter or stint? I've read somewhere that some medical components have Pt in them, but only if they're for extended use like in arteries or long term IVs.

I've got a cousin who's a surgeon and they use Pt gauze all the time in a procedure for preventing aneurysms. I suppose he's the fellow to ask, but I doubt he'd be tell me "sure, I'll give you all the used, left over biohazardous/infectious waste you want!".


Just wondering.

 

[jimdoc]

Lou,
Here is a link to Midwest Refineries platinum page.
It shows catheters, and says they have platinum
tips and rings. (The last picture on page)
The rest of the site has some cool pictures also.
Jim
http://midwestrefineries.com/platinum.htm

Here is another site with pics and prices;
http://www.epcatheters.com/prices.php

 

[Lou]

That's where I saw it!

Thing is, there's so many types of catheters...

 

[kevin68311]

I just read the post on catheters.How would you go about obtaining them from hospitals?

 

[calgoldrecyclers]

i was recently reading on a refiners website that the catheters are plated in pt. catheters, are naturally thrown out as a bio hazard. i believe you would have to get ahold of someone at the hospital, custodial manager perhaps, to find out where the waste is going, and how you could acquire the contract for disposal. hospitals wont give you any waste without a written contract as it would become legally binding on their end, if something diverse occured. most hospitals and outpatient clinics likely pay a service for disposal. if you could get ahold of the right people at the hospital, i'm certain they would be extremely interested in "free" disposal.
also , i believe x-ray film, which is eventually thrown out, contains ag, rh, perhaps traces of pt.

 

[Lou]

There is no Rh in the x-ray film. The catheters aren't plated in Pt, they are segmented and are solid pieces of Pt. Just plating it would be silly.


I have actually been calling up and talking to some people I know at area hospitals. Believe it or not, they throw away the catheters, pacemakers, electrodes, stents, capillary wire, and gauze. They won't give it away either because it is infectious waste, it must first be sterilized.

 

[Anonymous]

20 years ago I had a room mate whose job it was to clean up operating rooms after surgeries. He brought home some interesting stuff. He was always late for work though and ended up getting fired.

A couple months ago I was visiting someone in a hospital and every piece of equipment in the room had an expiration date on it. Even the bed! I assume when those things expire they are either thrown out or are inspected and refurbished (?) If thrown out it sounds like an opportunity to get lots of scrap and precious metals.