Old defibrulator batteries lead to $3.2 million death settlement

The family of a 49-year-old man who died of a heart attack after a defibrillator on the Chicago Fire engine sent to resuscitate him did not work because the batteries hadn’t been replaced will receive $3.2 million, under a settlement advanced Monday by a City Council committee.

Frederick Partyka, a stationary engineer who worked for the city, was using a snow blower in front of his home in the 2700 block of North New England when he collapsed on Jan. 22, 2005. Partyka’s son, a paramedic with the Hillside Fire Department, witnessed the incident, called 911 and administered CPR to his father while waiting for help.

When the fire engine arrived at 3:16 p.m., the paramedic on-board found Partyka in ventricular tachycardia, a life-threatening condition.

But, when the paramedic attempted to shock Partyka’s heart back into rhythm, the defibrillator didn’t work. The batteries were old and did not hold a charge. When the old batteries were replaced with spare batteries, the defibrillator powered off again. At 3:22 p.m., an ambulance arrived with a working defibrillator. But, it was too late. Partyka was already dead.

“The industry standard required — and the manufacturer recommended — that this particular defibrillator battery had to be replaced every two years,” said Susan Schwartz, an attorney representing the Partyka family.

“But, on Jan. 22, 2005, no battery had been purchased by the city since October, 2000. They didn’t properly maintain the batteries for these defibrillators.”

During Monday’s Finance Committee meeting, First Deputy Corporation Counsel Karen Seimetz told aldermen that the defibrillators used on that day were replaced in March, 2005. The new version uses batteries “automatically changed out with the manufacturer every two years,” she said.

“In the thousands and thousands and thousands of times these defibrillators have been used, this is the first known instance where this has ever occurred,” she said.

Under questioning from aldermen, Seimetz acknowledged that no one knows whether a working defibrillator would have saved Partyka.

But, she said, “The problem is under the law, if there’s any percentage chance that a person could have survived but for the alleged negligence, that’s enough to recover [damages]. Even though he had an underlying heart disease, this might have made the difference. There was no damage to the heart on autopsy.”