Zoll Medical Corporation Reminds Customers to Check for Defective Batteries in Defibrillators
Defective batteries and a software glitch in defibrillators (AEDs) manufactured by Zoll Medical Corporation may raise a surprising premises liability issue for owners of businesses who purchased the AED's to provide additional protection for customers and employees experiencing heart problems while on the businesses premises. The Zoll Medical Corporation is now reminding AED purchasers who may not have taken advantage of the company's voluntary corrective action in April of 2009 that they need to run a software upgrade to ensure the devices are working properly. Business owners should do so immediately, as lives are at stake.
The Zoll product in question is the AED Plus automated external defibrillator. Batteries in some of these devices are defective, and the software that is supposed to detect the battery failure may not be working properly either. Defibrillators older than three years are the most likely to fail. Affected products will carry a serial number of "X_ _ _200000" or lower. The software patch is available on the company's website. Users should also send Zoll an acknowledgment that the corrective action has been implemented. This is an important step for business owners as the "confirmation of corrective action" could be an important element in avoiding liability in the case of a subsequent AED failure. It would also permit Zoll to ensure that all defective defibrillators have been updated.
Three devices have been reported to have failed due to the problem, and two patients died when they were unable to receive the defibrillation shock. Find out more about the defective defibrillators at Zoll reminds on AED battery issue.
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