“The FDA said that since April 2021 it has received more than 116,000 medical device reports of foam breaking down in Philips CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines and BiPAP sleep therapy devices.”
Philips machines blew gas and bits of foam into the airways of people asleep. The FDA counts 561 reports of death. Philips says it found “no conclusive data” linking the devices to any of them, while it settles with the Justice Department for roughly $400 million and stops selling the machines in the US. Companies with clean hands don’t pay $479 million on top of that.