GE Healthcare Recalls Some Ventilators on Safety Issue

General Electric Co's healthcare unit recalled some ventilators, starting in April, on concerns that the device could deliver a potentially fatal overdose of anesthesia to patients undergoing surgery, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday. The FDA said GE had found that the ventilator's two vaporizers could deliver an anesthetic agent simultaneously, causing low blood pressure, irregular breathing and a drop in heart rate. The recall of certain Aestiva/5 7900 ventilators, which started in April 2012, was classified a Class I recall - the most serious type of recall.