If you are a heart patient with a pacemaker, the Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning about the minicomputer that is inside each device. Sioux City Unity Point St. Lukes Hospital cardiologist, Doctor Roque Arteaga says the F-D-A warning is due to the possibility that a computer hacker could interfere with how the pacemaker functions

A hacker would have to be within the same room or nearby to be able to interfere with the pacemaker. But as a precaution, the manufacturer has created anti-hacking software that you can download to insure against that possibility. Arteaga warns that you should be at a heart clinic to have that procedure done, instead of trying to download the software yourself at home

Arteaga works for St. Luke’s Cardiovascular Associates — which is sending letters explaining the situation to the 140 patients who are included in the pacemaker recall. The alert affects 465-thousand pacemakers nationwide.