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1. The head of Resmed medical device maker appeared on Cramer today and said the 1000 machines Musk said he would be donating were five-year old Resmed BiPap breathing devices, usually used to treat sleep apnea, which I presume were bought in bulk at deep discount.
2. I’ve research the subject, including talks with two physicians with ventilator experience. They asked not to be named, in one case because “I don’t want to antagonize Elon Musk.”
3. Although sometimes though not usually referred to as “ventilators” even by professionals, BiPap devices are not the high-end highly desired invasive ventilators that hospitals so desperately need. (GM and Ford have partnered up with ventillator makers to manufacture these.)
4. Musk said publicly he’s talked with device maker Medtronic about building ventilators. Medtronic’s CEO said on CNBC that he spoke with Musk. But no partnership has been announced, and there’s no evidence that Tesla or SpaceX are preparing to build ventilators of any kind.
5. They could be hard at work doing so, but there’s no evidence beyond the aspirational that there's anything to it. If the plans are real, @elonmusk or anyone from either company can get in touch with me and I’d be happy to write about the important work they're doing.
