Patent ID: 7527052

Claim:
A sedation and analgesia system comprising: a patient health monitor device adapted so as to be coupled to a patient and generate a signal reflecting at least one physiological condition of the patient; a drug delivery controller supplying one or more sedative, analgesic, and/or amnestic drugs to the patient; an electronic controller interconnected with the patient health monitor and the drug delivery controller; said electronic controller having a data set reflecting parameters of the at least one physiological condition, wherein said electronic controller receives said signal and in response manages the application of the drugs in accord with the parameters; and a fail safe module receiving a signal from the electronic controller, the signal from the electronic controller indicating the electronic controller is functioning properly, wherein the fail safe module is interconnected with the electronic controller such that in the absence of a signal indicating the controller is functioning properly, the fail safe module stops the electronic controller from managing the application of the one or more drugs, wherein upon the absence of a signal indicating the controller is functioning properly, the fail safe module stores information indicating the absence of said signal indicating the controller is functioning properly and alerts a user that the sedation and analgesia system has experienced a failure, and wherein said electronic controller provides the user with a simulation of a failure event or message, where the response of the fail-safe module may be tested, in the absence of a power down, to determine whether the fail safe module functions properly in automatedly transferring the sedation and analgesia system to a safe state mode and operation state mode at appropriate times.