Remote monitoring apparatus for medical conditions

A physiological monitoring apparatus, comprising:

• a cellular telephone handset connected to a cellular telephone network, said cellular telephone handset including a removable modified battery power source pack container having physiological monitoring means contained therein and a battery power source, said battery power source providing power for operating said cellular telephone handset and for providing power for said physiological monitoring means, said modified battery source pack container having an outer surface with detector means located on said outer surface, said detector means being in communication with said physiological monitoring means through apertures in said modified battery power source pack container, so that said detector means is attached to said modified battery power source, said cellular telephone handset further including a sound microphone;
• and,
• acoustic coupling means for coupling tones produced by said physiological monitoring means via said sound microphone of said cellular telephone handset, thereby activating said physiological monitoring means by placing said physiological monitoring means against a patient's chest, said cellular telephone handset being used for connecting to a remote monitoring station via the cellular telephone network, said cellular telephone handset sending an electromagnetic signal corresponding to an acoustically coupled tonal signal produced by said physiological monitoring means, with means for connecting said telephone handset with the cellular telephone network being activated by producing said acoustically coupled tonal signal.