The arguments are well taken. But ...
What if you do have the knowledge and/or the experience to work on the kit, but simply lack the technical information?:(
Then you should first try to obtain said information from whatever, legitimate, source is available in your country?
Taking the obvious copyright issues out of the equation, sending copies of manuals to individuals whilst knowing nothing about their technical knowledge and abilities is still fullhardy at best as these can be downright dangerous in the wrong hands.
I accept your point that it is undesirable to have kit quietly deteriorating away but I am sure anyone would agree, regardless of location, that it is also undesirable to have any piece of equipment likely to cause direct harm to a patient due to it being badly repaired or maintained.
