Bloomberg is reporting on a 14-year-old student in Colorado who found herself presenting data to the Heart Rhythm Society meeting in Denver this week. Gianna Chien's study of the effects of an iPad 2 on implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) is making some waves among the medical community because it appears to demonstrate that in a statistically significant number of cases, close proximity to an iPad 2 can disable someone's ICD and potentially lead to their death.

An ICD is a small device that can be surgically implanted into the abdominal cavity of someone suffering from certain types of cardiac arrhythmias, or irregular heartbeats. If the upper or lower part of the person's heart begins to flutter or beat irregularly, the ICD can deliver one or more electric shocks to the heart to restore normal rhythm. Atrial or ventricular arrhythmias can cause sudden death, so ICDs are potentially life-saving little things.

However, much like their pacemaker brethren, ICDs can be started and stopped by magnets near the skin. Chien's study, which originated as a science fair project conducted with the aid of her physician father, shows that the magnets in the edge of an iPad 2 can also switch off ICDs.

The test was conducted on a set of 26 volunteers with ICDs. In 30% of the cases—eight people—the magnets caused the ICDs to switch into their "magnet mode." Depending on the type of ICD, some devices will switch back to "normal" mode when the magnets are removed, and others will remain off until they are reactivated by a physician.

The iPad 2 used in the experiment has magnets that grip and hold the edge of the Apple-designed Smart Cover, but any tablet with magnets (or, indeed, any magnet at all) could cause similar effects. The magnets in an iPad aren't strong enough to trigger the ICD's "magnet mode" when the tablet is being held at a normal viewing and usage distance, but when held against the body—like if a person falls asleep with the iPad on his or her chest—they could cause problems. Unlike a pacemaker, which continually operates to keep a person's heartbeat regular, ICDs only activate when necessary to save someone's life; if an ICD is inadvertently deactivated, its owner might not know about it until he or she is in the middle of an arrhythmia, which might be too late.

According to the Bloomberg piece, ICD manufacturer Medtronics Inc. has issued a statement saying that as long as tablet devices are "used according to the manufacturer's instructions," patients will be fine. "The presentation at Heart Rhythm 2013 is a good reminder for patients to remain vigilant on new technology and its accessories and maintain a distance of six inches between an iPad and an implanted pacemaker or ICD," the statement read.

In other words, if you have a medical device implanted in your body, keep the iPad on the nightstand.