Dobelle died a few years ago. The FDA would never give approval for the experimental surgeries so he ended up moving his operations to Portugal. There were only a handful of patients that ever had this procedure done, Jens and Cheri Robertson that I know of. Dobelle's company was supposed to provide life-long support for Jens and Robertson but that has ended. The company ran out of funding within the last 2 years. Cheri's equipment no longer works, and she had to send it to one of the technicians who helped design it personally to try and have it fixed. I'm not sure if that has ever happened.

Cheri has had continuous problems with the implants since they were done. Her's never healed correctly and she has constantly been leaking blood and brain fluids from one of the cortical shunts.

In a recent interview where Cheri met Jans in person, he has been having many problems with his implants over the years and is thinking about having another surgery to have it removed. His equipment had stopped working several years ago and was never repaired. Overall, he ultimately said he was disappointed with the entire thing and probably would not do it again. Cheri remain(ed|s) more optimistic, but currently there is no long-term plan for continued improvement or support for the patients that underwent this experiment.