Surgeons want more devices scaled to fit children

With growing support from lawmakers, doctors are prodding the medical device industry to design equipment so that it is suitable for use on children. President Bush signed a law in September 2007 that offers financial incentives to companies that design devices for children, and gives regulators more power to scrutinize the use of adult-size devices in children. The profit potential for the device companies is limited, however, because the law allows experimental kid-size devices to be sold without full federal approval only if they're used to treat rare diseases. Also, kids are healthier than adults and as a result a much smaller market to begin with.