Most hospitals ban the use of cell phones for safety reasons.
It is possible that the radio frequency produced by the cell phone may interfere with other radio frequencies used for electronic medical devices. In theory, this could cause a problem with important medical equipment such as heart monitors, medication infusion pumps, and radiology equipment. Though the risk of an actual problem occurring is thought to be small, any malfunction could be serious for patients. It was recently reported that a cell phone at a patient's bedside was linked to a problem with a mechanical pump used to administer medication directly into a patient's vein. This medical device was set to administer medication to a patient at a slow rate, however, it delivered an overdose of medication to the patient in a short period of time.