Odon Device: Argentine Car Mechanic's Invention for Births

How do you pull out a cork from a bottle of glass? This typical challenge has been used to test intelligence, but Mr. Odón, a 59 year old Argentine car mechanic, used this idea to create the Odón Device, a safer and quicker way to assist in baby delivery.


About 10% of the 137 million births worldwide each year have serious complications, with obstructed labor (when a baby’s head is too large or an exhausted mother’s contractions stop) being a major factor. Current options for obstructed labor include forceps or vacuum suction cups attached to the baby’s scalp. If untrained, these devices can cause hemorrhages, crush the baby’s head or twist its spine. With the Odón Device, a plastic bag is slipped inside a lubricated plastic sleeve around the baby's head, it is inflated to grip the head and pulled out along with the baby.  

The invention has been endorsed by the World Health Organization and won research grants from the United States Agency for International Development and from Grand Challenges Canada. The device has been licensed to be manufactured by Becton, Dickinson and Company in New Jersey. It has been tested successfully on 30 Argentine women with limited training required and if it goes to market, it could save millions of babies. 
We also recommend watching: "TOMS Shoes: Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "The "Rescuing Hug": The Hug that Changed Medicine".

Odon Device: Argentine Car Mechanic's Invention for Births

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is an American medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs nearly 30,000 people in more than 50 countries throughout the world.