Fitbits Still Lauded as Beneficial Despite Various Unpleasant Symptoms Reported, Class Action Lawsuits Due to Inaccurate Heart Monitor Readings and Rashes

By B.N. Frank

Activist Post, Natural Blaze, and other publications have already published articles about Fitbit wearers experiencing a wide range of unpleasant and sometimes life threatening symptoms. Some wearers are literally being shocked by these devices. Complaints have also been posted on the Fitbit community board since at least January 2016.

There was a class action lawsuit in 2014 because some wearers were getting rashes. There was also a 2016 class action lawsuit by wearers reporting inaccurate heart monitor readings.

Despite all the complaining, reporting, and lawsuits, what’s not been addressed by every source is that:

Exposure to WiFi radiation, Electromagnetic Fields (EMF), and LED lights from the Fitbits could actually be what’s causing symptoms in wearers. This is referred to as “Microwave Sickness” or “Electrosensitivity.”
Medical professionals have referred to Fitbit data when evaluating and diagnosing patients despite the fact that they haven’t necessarily been accurate. Some medical professionals have also worn Fitbits themselves and recommended them to patients.

The testimony of an Ohio mother who claimed to be “healthy as a horse” before she started wearing a Fitbit could be one of thousands of scary cases. She said she saw 9 doctors and none of them told her to take the damn thing off. None of them considered Electrosensitivity or tested her for it. She now takes medication AND still wears the Fitbit.

News reported about the 2016 class action lawsuit includes:

NBC Today Show

The lawsuit alleges that not only do the Fitbit monitors not work, but also that the company’s ads, telling customers “every beat counts,” are misleading.

“We do not believe this case has merit,” a spokesperson for Fitbit said in a statement. “Fitbit stands behind out heart-rate technology and strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit.”

The company is also stressing that Fitbit trackers are designed to provide meaningful data to help users reach health and fitness goals, and they are not intended to be scientific or medical devices.

McLellan’s lawyers are seeking a class-action status for the lawsuit, saying the company is treating customers unfairly. The lawyers note that in order to even use the device, you must log in to Fitbit’s website and register the heart rate monitor — after you’ve already bought it.

“You can’t even use it as a watch to tell what time it is unless you register it on the website,” Bob Klonoff, one of the lawyers who filed the suit, said. “And that’s when you have to agree to all of these terms.”

That registration includes an agreement that McLellan’s lawyers say prevents customers from taking certain legal action against the company.

“They are told they are bound by the arbitration clause and class-action ban,” lawyer Jonathan Selbin said. “Well, that’s unfair.”

Time.com:

But some customers are alleging the devices aren’t as accurate as Fitbit claims. A class-action lawsuit to that effect was filed earlier this year. The parties bringing that lawsuit recently pointed to the results of a study that calls the Fitbit Surge and Charge HR’s heart rate monitors “highly inaccurate” during elevated physical activity.

TechCrunch:

Fitbit is facing a class-action lawsuit regarding the accuracy of their heart-rate data, which have been shown to be inaccurate by a margin of up to 20 beats per minute by researchers at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Until now, there have been plenty of articles examining the value and efficacy of the devices themselves, but there are very few efforts utilizing them in real, academic disease-specific investigations. We chose the Fitbit because of its ease-of-use, readily accessible API and substantial peer-reviewed literature documenting use of the device for measurement of sleep and activity.

This lawsuit highlights our challenge — we must properly plan for and accommodate variance in remotely collected data, which we argue is a standard and well-known problem for any research data, whether it is collected in the hospital, clinic or at home.

For those who aren’t complaining yet about their Fitbits AND are buying them for their kids, keep in mind that exposure is cumulative and research KEEPS PROVING that Fitbits AREN’T accurate anyway.