IEC 60601-1, which covers the basic safety and essential performance applicable to medical electrical equipment including surgical, monitoring and hospital devices, has a long history with a number of revisions. The standards follow the same general requirements established in IEC 60950-1, but with increased levels of protection for insulation/isolation, creepage, clearance, and leakage current. Introduced in 1988, the 2^nd edition of IEC 60601-1 focused on safety within a 6-foot radius of the patient known as “patient vicinity” and developed three guidelines of increasing severity. This was followed by the 3^rd edition in 2005 which looked at different “means of protection” (MOP) for patients and equipment operators. Edition 3.1, introduced in 2012, made over 500 changes and clarifications to the 3^rd edition to address ambiguities arising from evolving medical technology. Most recently, in 2014, the 4th edition of collateral standard IEC 60601-1-2, “Electromagnetic disturbances – Requirements and tests,” was published.