Health Highlights: Sept. 11, 2009

Sept. 12 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

World's Oldest Person Dies at 115 in Los Angeles

Gertrude Baines, the world's oldest person at 115 years of age, died Friday in a Los Angeles hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Her physician, Dr. Charles Witt, said Baines probably died of a heart attack but an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the cause of death.

Baines was born in Shellman, Ga., in 1894 and received a letter from President Obama when she turned 115 on April 6, the wire service said. She held the title of world's oldest person after 115-year-old Maria de Jesus of Portugal died in January.

The newest oldest person is now 114-year-old Kama Chinen, of Japan, according to Dr. L. Stephen Coles of the Gerontology Research Group at UCLA Medical Center, which assesses claims of extreme old age.

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Battery Warning Issued on Implanted Defibrillators

The batteries in about 6,300 Medtronic implanted defibrillators may fail before their scheduled depletion time, but not without warning users well in advance, the company said on Friday.

Medtronic spokesman Chris Garland told Dow Jones that the defect affects "Concerto" cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators, as well as "Virtuoso" defibrillators.

Medtronic already guarantees users a 90-day advance warning from such devices, letting patients know that the battery is running down. And although the battery in the devices in question may have a shorter life than was expected, patients will still receive this advance warning, and they should not change their regular check-up/device monitoring schedule.

"There's no safety concern at all, there's been no reports of injury," said Garland, who noted that Medtronic had sent doctors notification of the matter earlier this week.