Defective Cardiac Defibrillator May Result in Death

The Georgia injury lawyers at Finch McCranie, LLP have represented many victims of defective products which have caused serious injury and sometimes death. Recently, there was a recall on a device meant to save lives, a defibrillator. Each year 250,000 to 450,000 Americans suffer a sudden heart stoppage or cardiac arrest due to a rhythm disturbance or silent coronary artery disease, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. About 95 percent of those people die. A defibrillator delivers a shock which is meant to restore a person’s regular heart rhythm. Zoll Medical Corp has issued an alert because some of its AED Plus external defibrillators, used in public settings such as airports, have defective batteries and software, leading to failures to deliver a shock and two patient deaths. On February 2009, Zoll began asking customers to download new software that will help detect a potential defective battery. In addition to airports, the potentially defective defibrillators may be located in health clubs and schools. If you know of one of these products manufactured by Zoll, you should advise the owner that the manufacturer is asking customers to download free software from its website which will diagnose whether the batteries need replacement.