A widower has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in which she claims that her husband needn't have died if the gym he was exercising in had at least one of their two defibrillators working properly when he suffered a cardiac arrest, as reported by Syracuse.com
Syracuse lawyer, R.P., 58, died after working out in the Aspen Athletic Club. The club is named as the defendant in the lawsuit due to failing to maintain an operating defibrillator – also referred to as an AED automatic external defibrillators.
According to New York general business law any health club that serves over 500 members must have one working AED.
The suit was filed in state Supreme Court on October 1, 2013.
R.P. was exercising at the Aspen Athletic club location in DeWitt on May 13, 2013 when he grew ill and required aid. Employees of the gym, and bystanders, attempted to use both AEDs but neither one worked. Due to the failure of the devices R.P. was denied immediate care.
According to the family's attorney, John Cherundolo, on June 23, 2013, R.P. died from subsequent brain damage. Cherundolo stated that the death was "a direct and proximate result of the AEDs not functioning properly."
The suit also names the manufacturers and distributors of the two devices as defendants due to negligence in the device's design and in its maintenance.
The health club is named for failing to maintain or test the AEDs – the batteries had never been checked according to the suit.
Days after the suit was filed Aspen closed the DeWitt location.
According to the suit one of the AEDs that failed was a Heartstream unit – an older model – that came with the gym when Aspen purchased it from Fitness Forum in December 2012. The unit was fitted with batteries that were not charged.
A design defect in the Heartstream AED was also noted – there is no warning system in place to note that that a battery requires charging.
The second AED was a new Zoll unit. However, there were no batteries that came with it and though the distributor, See Medical Inc., allegedly planned to come and insert the batteries, they never did.
All of the defendants have denied any wrongdoing, and, according to Cherundolo, the trial will be in about a year when the discovery phase is completed.
Cherundolo told reporters that R.P. "was a great lawyer and an even greater man. He shouldn't have died this way."
The attorney for Aspen Athletic Club, Kevin Van Duser, commented, "Aspen intends to rigorously defend all allegations in the complaint. It is inappropriate for any party to comment further on the lawsuit at this early stage."
The damages sought have yet to be declared.
After Aspen Athletic Club LLC, the other defendants in the case are listed as: Zee Medical Inc., Zoll Medical Corp., Agilent Technologies Inc., Healther Solutions group headquarters, Koninklijki Pillips. N.V. dba Royal Philips, Philips Healthcare Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co.
Loosing a loved one in any scenario is extremely difficult. However loosing a loved one, due to the negligence of someone else is something you can file a lawsuit over. Contact a personal injury lawyer today for help!