Defibrillator sets patient's clothes on fire
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NEW LONDON, Connecticut (AP) -- A spark from a defibrillator set a woman's clothing on fire when a paramedic tried to restart her heart in an ambulance.
Brenda Jewett, 47, was pronounced dead at a hospital Monday. An autopsy was scheduled to determine the cause of her death.
Neither the paramedic nor other members of the ambulance crew were injured by the fire.
Prosecutors asked the state police, fire marshals and the state Office of Emergency Medical Services to investigate.
"I've been in this business 20 years and I've never heard of something like this," said Leonard Guercia Jr., the state's EMS director.
Mary Newman of the National Center for Early Defibrillation in Pittsburgh said the center had never heard of such a case before. She said she doubted the fire or the defibrillator caused Jewett's death.
"When you defibrillate a person, they are already dead," she said.
Copyright 2004 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
