[Diabetes-talk] VoiceRx is Prodigy

Mon Oct 24 00:39:02 UTC 2011

Cheryl:

First, although I agree with you that it would have been better had ADS notified me, you, Bern or other DAN members that it would not be represented at the convention in Orlando, Jordan
Benis truly was quite ill and I'm not sure the people at ADS were thinking quite straight at the time; this is certainly understandable and although I was rather miffed at the time, I am willing to forgive and to forget under the circustances.

Second, I am not in charge of the Bolotin Award Committee; I was merely asked if I aprroved of a Bolotin award for Jerry. I said that Jerry personally deserved an award for his contributions to accessible diabetes devices but that DDI should not be given an award.

Third, I spoke to Jerry a few weeks ago but he was asking for Lynn Bailliff's phone number (if I recall correctly) rather than pitching something to me.

Fourth, I have come to the conclusion that while Jerry's heart is in the right place, he does not have as much influence within DDI as we might imagine and therefore has less control of the timing of the relese of and nature of software and hardware diabetes products as we might wish. Rick Admani and others are bigger wheels within DDI than is Jerry and, given current law, we have limited leverage to get diabetes equipment companies to speed up product development and build accessibility features into these products. This is as true of BioSense (makers of the Solo) as it is of DDI.

Fifth, I know for certain that BioSense is working on accessible software. Frankly, I'm not certain they're going at it in the most intelligent fashion or putting as much emphasis or programming time into the development as I think it deserves but since I'm not the majority stockholder in BioSense, I have limited ability to change things. In fact, I think part of the problem with all these companies is that they contract out software development and don't write kick-ass contracts that say "You will develop this software within a week, consulting FS, GW Micro, System Access and Dolphin Systems to ensure screen-reader accessibility and if you don't meet this criterion, you're gone and we're finding programmers who can meet this criterion!" Frankly, you don't see this sort of kick-ass contract anywhere else anymore, either.

Sixth, it's hard to evaluate what, if any, complicity the FDA has in all of this. In the case of the maker of the SensoCard Plus, no 510k application was submitted for a year. And FDA does insist that evaluation of accessibility features is part of the determination of accuracy and will not accept our assertion that we know about accessibility and only accuracy of pups etc. need be evaluated. Also, on the one hand, we, the public, insist upon FDA being a watchdog. Yet we complain when it does its job and holds up approval of drugs or devices for testing. In other words, we want to have our cake and eat it, too. That ain't the real world, Maynard.

But I am in contact with both DDI and BioSense.

Mike 

----- Original Message -----
From: cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Date: Sunday, Oct 23, 2011 14:55:20
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] VoiceRx is Prodigy

>
>
> Has anyone spoken to Jerry Munden, I mean Bern, you were sitting at the 
> table with him at Convention. Mike Freeman, have you spoken with him, NFB 
> gave them not only the A+ Award but the Bolten Award this year.
> 
> We need to keep on top of these things, when ADS didn't show up at 
> Convention, I made sure as heck that I had contacted them, not only are they 
> a supplier, they are close friends, so when I went to the table to search 
> for them, and was rudely told by one of the women our information desks in 
> the Market, told me that they weren't there, I was on the phone with them, 
> being told that Owner was not there and Mr. Jordan Benis was extremely sick.
> 
> In any case, I was on the phone.
> 
> Now that I am getting e-mails and probably automated sent to me from Jerry 
> Munden about VoiceRx and no responses from him when I e-mail, it seems we 
> have been forgotten about.
> 
> 
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
> 
> Cheryl Echevarria
> http://www.echevarriatravel.com
> 631-456-5394
> reservations at echevarriatravel.com
> 
> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Superior Travel, located in 
> Baldwin, NY. www.superiortravel.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jim Smith" <jimmytsmith64 at gmail.com>
> To: <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2011 8:54 AM
> Subject: [Diabetes-talk] VoiceRx is Prodigy
> 
> 
> > Bern, I'm glad to hear that Jerry is a stand-up kind of guy. Hopefully 
> > he'll
> > come and answer some of these questions then.  You're right about the
> > ethical practices though.  That's the biggest problem I have with prodigy.
> > It's not just advertising products that don't exist, but it's also how 
> > they
> > deal with things.  Every time I had an issue with the prodigy autocode, 
> > the
> > attitude of everyone I dealt with was it must be my fault. The date read
> > wrong, my fault.  Consistently low readings, my fault.  Wouldn't stay on
> > english language, my fault.  With enough trouble, they would eventually
> > replace the product, but simply replacing faulty product doesn't help; 
> > they
> > need to fix the issues. Add to that the fact that there is no software and
> > the answer is always that "it's at the FDA" is unacceptable.  It's been at
> > the FDA for almost 2 years.  I've talked to FDA representatives that have
> > said there's no way that it should take that long unless there are serious
> > problems with the software.  I had 4 different autocodes before I decided 
> > to
> > take matters into my own hands and pay out of pocket for a onetouch meter.
> > I've never been happier. I'm sorry to vent like this, but it makes me mad
> > that a company that professes so much delivers so little.  Wasn't
> > manufacturing supposed to be moved to the USA? And even if the pump is
> > supposedly delayed by the FDA, what about the other products? The 
> > software?
> > The patch?  I'll get off my soapbox now, but I can tell you that I won't 
> > be
> > supporting voicerx since the owners are the same. Especially when dealing
> > with something so serious as prescription medication.  Again, sorry for 
> > the
> > rant.
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> 
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