I write to you as an owner of Hearing Associates, a small private audiology practice in Eugene, and an individual with complete deafness in my left ear and incredibly profound hearing loss in my right ear since birth.
I want to draw your attention to Reese’s Law (P.L. 117-171). Reese’s Law was passed in 2022 after a child died from swallowing a button-cell battery from a remote control. Due to this law, after March 2024, our clinic was forced to purchase child-resistant hearing aid battery packages for our elderly patients to use in their hearing aids.
Because of Reese’s Law:
- Our patients, who average ages 68-75, must use scissors to open hard, plastic packaging to access batteries that are only a quarter of an inch in diameter.
- We have had patients cut themselves trying to open the packaging, cut into the battery, and unknowingly put it into their hearing aid, causing corrosion and damage. We have patients who are blind and cannot see to open the packaging safely, along with patients with dexterity issues who cannot work the needed scissors.
- We have patients who travel and cannot take scissors with them to open the packaging.
Many of our patients have expressed anger and frustration over the new limitations posed on them by Reese’s law. Some have even cried in our office with concern over their continued ability to use their hearing aids. Everyone is hurt when a child dies, no doubt about this, but we cannot abandon the elderly as well.
We cannot abandon children with hearing loss who have disposable batteries in their hearing devices. My employees and colleagues find the new packaging challenging to open, even after doing so since March 2024. As grown adults struggle to open these packages, imagine your child trying to open their batteries during class with industrial-strength scissors or wire cutters because their battery died. As young as 7, I was replacing my own hearing aid batteries for my hearing device at school, during sports, and many other activities. I depend on my right hearing instrument to communicate with others and do not hear what is said without it. A working hearing device has been and will always be a blessing for me. I cannot imagine opening the child-resistant packaging as a young kid. Hearing loss is sometimes embarrassing to admit to your peers, even if they know this about you; this packaging adds a whole other layer of difficulty for those with hearing loss.
I am researching how to help my patients voice their concerns with this law. I sent letters to our Oregon Senators and professional organizations. I hope this column compels you to write your own if Reese’s law adversely affects you or your patients.
Dr. Colette Vossler-Welch is one of two owners of Hearing Associates, a small, independent private Audiology practice in Eugene. She can be reached at [email protected].
