Patent ID: 8717141

Claim:
A medical device for a patient comprising: an operating element for triggering delivery of a therapeutic action of the medical device, wherein the operating element is a switch manually operable by a fingertip of the patient; a safety system provided in the medical device and including: a fingerprint sensor operatively coupled to the operating element and configured to generate fingerprint sensor signals relating to a manual actuation of the operating element; a processor operatively coupled to the sensor such that the processor receives the sensor signals; a memory coupled to the processor, wherein reference data that is characteristic of the manual actuation of the operating element is stored in the memory for retrieval by the processor; wherein the processor is adapted to execute computer-implemented instructions to: approximate whether the manual actuation of the operating element is an intentional act of a human based at least in part on a comparison of the sensor signals and the reference data, wherein the reference data is pattern data characteristic of the manual activation of the operating element by the fingertip of the patient, and trigger the delivery of the therapeutic action when the comparison indicates the characteristic of the manual actuation of the operating element, wherein the safety system further comprises: an identification device configured to transmit person-specific authorization signals, wherein the processor is operatively coupled to the identification device such that the processor receives the person-specific authorization signals, and wherein reference information relating to authorized persons stored is stored in the memory for retrieval by the processor, and wherein the processor is adapted to execute computer-implemented instructions to: determine whether a user is authorized based at least in part on a comparison of the reference information and the received person-specific authorization signals, and prevent at least one of adjusting the operating element, enabling the operating element, and activating the operating element if the user is not authorized.