During the 2025 legislative sessions, all 50 states introduced some form of right-to-repair legislation. However, only two proposals explicitly targeted medical devices—a controversial move that carries serious risks to patient safety.
As the national focus on right to repair continues into 2026, proposals that open the door to unregulated medical device maintenance pose severe, potentially dangerous, unintended consequences. As a cancer survivor and patient advocate, this is personal to me. In the context of healthcare disparities, such policies risk exacerbating an already troubling reality.
Hispanic families, in particular, continue to face systemic barriers to diagnosis and treatment — from limited access to specialty care to outdated, under-resourced facilities. In these settings, lowering the bar for those who can service complex medical equipment doesn’t promote equity; it threatens to further destabilize an already fragile system.
When our communities already question whether the healthcare system puts their safety first, allowing unregulated repairmen to get their hands on life-saving devices sends the wrong message: that cutting costs matters more than protecting lives.
Many Hispanic families rely on community health centers and small hospitals that operate with aging equipment. If these facilities turn to cheaper, unregulated repair options, patients could become the first to face the life-threatening consequences of preventable failure.
Trust in healthcare doesn’t come from kind words or good intentions; it’s built through reliability. When a dialysis machine or imaging device fails in a community clinic and no one is accountable for reporting why, that failure doesn’t just break the device; it breaks confidence and jeopardizes patient safety.
And as artificial intelligence dominates conversations about innovation and convenience, especially in healthcare, we must remember that not every industry can afford shortcuts. When lives are on the line, especially in communities already burdened by inequity, safety and oversight must remain the priority.
The right to repair has gained significant momentum over the last year, signaling a growing desire among consumers for easier access and convenience when it comes to any device they rely on that may need fixing. However, lawmakers must understand the complexities and risks of broad right-to-repair legislation and its implications for future outcomes.
Lumping medical devices into right-to-repair policies would enable unregulated, untrained personnel to perform repairs on intricate medical equipment without following FDA guidance or reporting adverse events resulting from those repairs. This means that if an X-ray machine distributes too much radiation and causes a patient to suffer radiation poisoning, the third-party repairperson would not be held accountable for their fatal flaw.
In Hispanic communities, these effects would be felt tenfold. Many of our healthcare providers already stretch limited resources to serve growing populations. If devices fail more frequently or repairs go unmonitored, these clinics won’t just struggle with higher costs; they’ll face a crisis of confidence.
Patients who question whether their care is as safe or sophisticated as in wealthier, better-resourced systems will see this as confirmation that they’re being asked to accept lower standards. Once that trust is lost, it’s nearly impossible to rebuild.
The right-to-repair movement plays an important role in empowering consumers and improving access, but when it comes to medical devices, the stakes are far higher. Lawmakers should draw a bright line between consumer electronics and life-saving medical technology. Hispanic patients — and all patients — deserve care built on trust, safety and reliability. Cutting corners on oversight won’t repair our healthcare system; it will break it further.