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Defibrillator to go
A Spotsylvania County woman is the first in Virginia to receive an external defibrillator.Date published: 9/7/2003 By JIM HALL O FAR, SUSAN DALY'S new defibrillator has not knocked her to the floor at Wal-Mart, as her old one once did. Daly was shopping at the Fredericksburg store with her husband, Frank, last December when the heart device inside her chest misfired. The defibrillator was meant to monitor her heart and protect her from sudden cardiac arrest. Instead, without warning, it sent three jolts of electricity through her body. "It was just like my whole chest exploded," Daly said. "I just landed on the floor screaming." Store employees called an ambulance, and Daly was hospitalized after the incident. Technicians recalibrated the device to prevent it from misfiring again. But five months later, the 51-year-old Spotsylvania County resident had other problems with her defibrillator--its site within her chest became infected. Daly's doctors at the Medical College of Virginia Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond removed the device but decided to wait before implanting a new one. They wanted to treat her infection first. So, while awaiting a new defibrillator, Daly became the first person in Virginia to receive an external, wearable one. "We didn't think it would be safe for her to go home without protection," said Dr. Richard K. Shepard, one of Daly's heart doctors at MCV. The federal Food and Drug Administration approved use of the external defibrillator last October. Called a LifeVest, it is now worn by 75 people nationwide, according to a spokeswoman for Lifecor, the manufacturer. Daly wears the vest 24 hours a day, beneath her clothing and next to her skin. She removes it only to shower. The device monitors her heart rhythms and will shock her back into a normal rhythm if an abnormal rhythm develops. The vest consists of a set of white canvas belts worn around the chest and a holster at the waist. It weighs 1.8 pounds and is almost invisible beneath Daly's clothing. The belts are reminiscent of the safety belts once worn by school-crossing guards. The holster holds a small black box that serves as defibrillator, monitor and battery pack. The holster, Daly said, is the LifeVest's main drawback. "It's not exactly attractive," she said.
Date published: 9/7/2003
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