CHALFONT ST. GILES, England & TOTOWA, N.J.--30 October 2008-- GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) announced today the completion of the acquisition of Vital Signs (NASDAQ:VITL).

Vital Signs is a global provider of medical products applicable to a wide range of care areas such as anesthesia, respiratory, sleep therapy and emergency medicine. Vital Signs has a broad product offering of innovative single-patient use products which offer significant cost advantages and improved patient care features, including reducing the likelihood of transmitting infections from one patient to another. Vital Signs will become part of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business, a world-class provider of advanced technologies for patient monitoring, anesthesia delivery and acute respiratory care. The strong strategic fit between the two businesses will offer substantial customer benefits through complementary product and service offerings.

Omar Ishrak, President and CEO of GE Healthcare’s Clinical Systems business commented, “We believe that combining the skills and knowledge of the two companies will create significant added value for our customers, bringing new technologies to healthcare professionals worldwide. Clinical Systems is a key area of growth for GE Healthcare and expanding our skill base and product offering in this area supports our vision of helping clinicians and nurses deliver the best possible care to their patients.”