Baby-Monitoring Devices Defective

As many as 5,000 machines designed to monitor babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome have faulty alarms that could leave infants vulnerable to death or injury, the manufacturer has warned.

The devices by Aequitron Medical Inc. are designed to sound an alarm if an infant suddenly stops breathing or has an abnormal heart rate. But the machines have a higher than acceptable failure rate, the company said last week.

The company issued a safety alert, warning dealers about the defect in its new model, No. 9200, which has been shipped to homes and hospitals nationwide since last July. The alert does not affect about 40,000 earlier models.