# Gym told to pay $619,650 in man's death because it didn't have a defibrillator



## Raf (Apr 2, 2006)

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...0mar30,0,2709084.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

An LA Fitness gym in Ft. Lauderdale, FL doesn't have a defribillator or any EMS personnel on hand. A man falls into cardiac arrest, nobody helps him and he dies.

IMO, that little over 600 grand is not nearly enough for this mistake. All gyms should have an AED, many people faint and can go into cardiac arrest. It's absolutely ignorant of them to not have an AED or at LEAST train their staff to perform CPR.


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## TTLWHKR (Apr 2, 2006)

Why is it ignorant of them? 

Did they cause his arteries to be clogged by forcing him into an unhealthy life?

A defibrillator can't fix 49 years of unhealthy lifestyle. 

Is it a requirement that they have a full EMS team on stand by?

If it is, then they are in the wrong. If it's not, then why blame them for this guys health?

The family just has a grieving problem. They are stuck in the anger stage of death, someone has to be a fault, they have to point a finger somewhere. It can't be the fault of the man, or his health condition. If he didn't drown or get fried, then something caused it, most likely a cardiac problem. I'd like to see his autopsy results. If he had an underlying cardiac condition, then there should be no blame to place, someone should recognize responsibility about the time they get a check. I wish I could have been on that jury.


That's my opinion.


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## Raf (Apr 2, 2006)

Anyone can go into cardiac arrest. This man was not necessarily someone who was very unhealthy.

What if it was an obese man, trying to turn his life around by going to the gym? He may have just pushed himself too hard and fainted.

It's a general concept to have EMS units available WHEREVER there is physical/sports activity. Little kid sports leagues all have CPR trained coaches, all the games here at my college are required to have a few EMT members from our EMS squad watching the game as well.

Just a little effort could have been put in and this man's life could have been saved. Imagine a man in cardiac arrest, lying on the floor with NOBODY helping him. You dont see a problem with this? The staff should have at least been CPR certified, and an AED would have been even better. LA fitness is a multimillion dollar company, you're telling me they can't afford a 2,000 dollar item?


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## RebelRescue (Apr 2, 2006)

TTLWHKR said:
			
		

> Why is it ignorant of them?
> 
> Did they cause his arteries to be clogged by forcing him into an unhealthy life?
> 
> ...



I agree-up to a point.I think gyms should at least have their people trained in CPR after all a lot of unhealthy people are going to gyms to try to get healthy.Wouldn't charge them over half a mil for not having a paramedic standing by with AED in hand thou.


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## MedicPrincess (Apr 2, 2006)

Raf said:
			
		

> It's a general concept to have EMS units available WHEREVER there is physical/sports activity. Little kid sports leagues all have CPR trained coaches, all the games here at my college are required to have a few EMT members from our EMS squad watching the game as well.


 
Between my station and my home there are no less than 5 Fitness Centers.  Are you saying they should all have their own dedicated EMS unit on standby.  That is Ludicris!  A fitness center is business, not an organized sporting event.  Heck, there is physical/sports activity at my sons school, and they don't have their own EMS units.  

This business, just like any other business, does have EMS units available to them.  They simply need to call their emergency number and which ever unit is there will respond.

I agree with Alex.  LA Fitness should not be responsible for this mans years of neglect of his body.  It makes no difference to me if he was fit and trim and worked out regularly, or if he was 500 pounds and finally decided to get off his butt and do something about it.  He obviously had an underlying cardiac related condition (people with a healty cardiovascular system don't normally drop dead from Cardiac Arrest), and before you start any work out regime every business that has been in business for more than a minute will advise you to get a checkup from a physician before starting any workout routine.



> Just a little effort could have been put in and this man's life could have been saved


 
Could it have?  Was his rythym shockable? 



> What if it was an obese man, trying to turn his life around by going to the gym? He may have just pushed himself too hard and fainted.


 
In which case he wouldn't have needed an AED.  Or CPR.  Just some sense to know when he had enough.

I do agree that the gym staff should at least be CPR certified though.  Heck, for that matter there are a lot of business/organizations that should have more of their people CPR certified.


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## Flight-LP (Apr 2, 2006)

So does this mean that I can sue the local gentlemans club the next ime I go and then have an MI. This is ridiculous, the guy had a long string of heart problems and should have never been overexerting himself to begin with. Yes it would be nice to see an increase in public use defibrillators and CPR knowledgable people, but come on, a line has to be drawn somewhere. Had this occured with him walking down the street would he have sued the city for not having defib's on the street corner or having bystanders perform CPR? His family shouldn't have gotten a dime.............


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## MMiz (Apr 2, 2006)

> So does this mean that I can sue the local gentlemans club the next ime I go and then have an MI.



Best.  Quote.  Ever.


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## futuretoledoemt (Apr 4, 2006)

Raf said:
			
		

> http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...0mar30,0,2709084.story?coll=sfla-news-broward
> 
> An LA Fitness gym in Ft. Lauderdale, FL doesn't have a defribillator or any EMS personnel on hand. A man falls into cardiac arrest, nobody helps him and he dies.
> 
> IMO, that little over 600 grand is not nearly enough for this mistake. All gyms should have an AED, many people faint and can go into cardiac arrest. It's absolutely ignorant of them to not have an AED or at LEAST train their staff to perform CPR.



My gym doesn't have an AED either... And I'm pretty sure they don't have any EMS personnel on hand.

A while back there was an article in the local paper about how many businesses don't want AED's because they're expensive, they don't want to have to train their staff on them, and they don't want to risk being held liable if someone does have an MI and no one knows how to use the AED (high volume gym, high turnover rate).

I can see what they're saying, from the business side... 

April

Oh yeah... wanted to add that I read an article in the same paper in January about how there are serveral nursing homes in Toledo that don't have AED's.  To me, that is ridiculous.


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## Jon (Apr 4, 2006)

James O. Page... a "founding father" of EMS died of SCA in a health club with no AED... The irony...


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## Firechic (Apr 4, 2006)

> So does this mean that I can sue the local gentlemans club the next ime I go


Now we know where Flight-LP spends all of his time!      :beerchug:


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## Flight-LP (Apr 4, 2006)

Not all the time!!!!!!!!


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## BrandoEMT (Apr 17, 2006)

On my college campus we are fighting to get more AEDs.  A couple months ago there was a high school baskteball player during a game who dropped and suffered cardiac arrest.  The irony is that the school district had brand new AEDs on hand but in storage because they hadn't decided where to place the cases for them.  The kid died and I don't think anyone went after the district.

In the situation provided in this thread I don't believe that a private corporation or gym can be held liable for not having AEDs, I do however think that this would be something that would attrack people to join up.  But they would have to train all their staff from trainers to secretaries to custodians.  If they choose to purchase one or more I also think they should receive insurance breaks for their successful implementation.  Some people want AEDs to be as available as fire extinguishers...I don't know if they should be that common but if placed well they can be quite useful.

B


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## Chimpie (Apr 17, 2006)

While everyone should be trained, not everyone has to be.  The AED's on the market today walk you through step-by-step, some even telling you to remove the clothing from the victims chest.  (real basic stuff)


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## BrandoEMT (Apr 17, 2006)

Agreed Chimpie, but I'd rather have lay persons trained even somewhat than not.  On my service I have a list in my mind of EMTs to not allow work on me in case I was injured.  That list is the "just let me die list" and it's true, I will sometimes trust lay people more than some EMTs...!!!

B


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## JJR512 (Apr 17, 2006)

If there is no law or regulation that states the gym should have had a defibrillator, then in my opinion it's bogus to hold them responsible for something that happened because they didn't have one.


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## Anomalous (Apr 17, 2006)

Now required in Illinois et al, as of 1-1-2006.       


http://fitnessbusiness-pro.com/mag/fitness_fitness_facilities_face/index.html


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## joemt (Apr 18, 2006)

I predicted long ago when AED's first became the "standard".. that sooner or later there would be more liability in "not" having one onsite, than in having one.  Expect to see more and more of these types of suits in the the future.  In fact, I've seen about half a dozen related to Fitness Centers alone (I'm doing a local study on Fitness Centers and AED's).


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