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Invacare Wheelchair owners warning Fires, deaths are
linked to Invacare wheelchairs The
world's largest maker of battery-operated wheelchairs, Invacare Corp.,
settled a lawsuit last month for more than $7 million after defective
wiring on one of its wheelchairs In September 2000, Invacare expanded the recall, increasing from six to 16 the number of models covered and nearly doubling the number of wheelchairs included, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the devices. The
recall now covers all powered wheelchairs Invacare made from 1985 to
2000 - more than 215,000 of them. Although Invacare sent cards to possible
customers and notified many dealers of the recall, it acknowledged that
it has not referred to the recall in press releases, "Many
people don't know, still, about the risk. It's out there, but they should
have had it on national TV," said Douglas Clark, a partner with
Mesch, Clark & Rothschild of Tucson, About 39 percent of the wheelchairs made since 1993 have been corrected, said company spokeswoman Susan Elder. Invacare doesn't have similar data for wheelchairs made earlier than that, she said. She would not comment about legal issues. Invacare, whose sales last year topped $1 billion, has more than a quarter of the wheelchair market. Because someone who needs an electric wheelchair is unable to get up and walk away if that machine ignites, product defects that can spark fires are particularly dangerous for those customers. As
far back as August 1993, Invacare tracked complaints about problems
associated with the battery-charger wiring harness that could short
circuit and which had led to smoking, sparking and fires. Those complaints
described more than 30 incidents before the recall began in April 2000
and more than 30 since then. The company noted five deaths and For instance, the complaint files record John Rothermel's October 1994 death in Rhode Island: " 'Pop' sound when charger plugged in; short caused chair fire; apartment burned down." In other cases, batteries and wheelchairs reportedly melted. And the records show that a father said one wheelchair "burnt like a blowtorch" while his son was in it. And one fire, which started when a wheelchair was being charged, happened as recently as April, the records show. The
recall involves replacing components in the flawed charging systems.
They lacked a fuse that would cost less than $5 and handle short-circuits,
according to an Invacare engineer, who was questioned during trial preparations
for a lawsuit over the death of Spencer Lynch. The Plain Dealer obtained
the pretrial documents. Lynch, of Oklahoma, died from burns after his
Invacare Power 9000 wheelchair caught fire in June 1999. The Invacare has settled Lynch's case and two others involving deaths, in Georgia and Mississippi, brought after wheelchair users died in fires linked to the defective system. Confidentiality agreements struck in several of the settlements cover not only the settlement amounts, but also expert witnesses, who are restricted from speaking about some aspects of the lawsuits. One such case, the lawsuit brought by Lynch's parents, settled for more than $20 million, according to legal sources familiar with it. Lawyer Walter Haskins, a partner with Atkinson, Haskins, Nellis, Holeman, Phipps, Brittingham & Gladd, of Tulsa, Okla., who represented Lynch's parents, declined to comment about the case, which was sealed. "Invacare came down with a truck," picked up all of the evidence, including the charred wheelchair, Haskins said, "and hauled off." Early last month, Invacare settled with Davis, who was burned when her wheelchair ignited after she began charging the battery. She called the telephone company operator, who traced the call and dispatched the Fire Department. Firefighters arrived about 10 minutes after Davis called. A neighbor, summoned by the operator, also tried to fight the fire with a garden hose. Before
settling the case, Invacare admitted in court to the defect, according
to a transcript. On Aug. 8, Ted Borek, Arizona Superior Court judge
said, "At this point, the defense admits and the plaintiff stipulates
to the following facts: 'And that is, that the design of the By then, Invacare had notified many dealers about the recall. The company sent letters in April 2000 and September 2000 that refer to the likelihood of fires. But Elder said there are a number of cases where "we were not able to locate the dealer, the information on the consumer." The company also arranged for post cards about the action to be sent to lists of consumers likely to be using powered wheelchairs, such as disabled veterans. A copy of one of the cards refers to the possibility of an electrical short, but not to the risk of fire. Inside
a section on its Web site labeled product alert, Invacare lists several
Medical Device Field Corrections. One that is dated March 2001 says
the company "initiated a field correction involving certain Invacare
power wheelchairs manufactured from 1988 through Consumers who purchased a wheelchair within that 12-year span are encouraged to contact their "provider for details on how to have the new components installed." When
medical devices regulated by the FDA are related to serious harm or
death, or could lead to serious harm or death if the problem recurred,
the manufacturer must report the incidents to the agency. That is true
even if the cause of the mishap hasn't been determined. According to Invacare's complaint files, no reports were made to the FDA for at least 18 of the incidents related to battery-wiring harnesses that it tracked, including the wheelchair fire that killed John Rothermel in 1994 and another fire that killed Arthur Wilbur in Florida in July 1995. "I don't think there has been enough communication about it," said Mary Beth Gahan, a rehabilitation counselor for the Council for Disability Rights, in Chicago. The group provides information and counseling to consumers with disabilities and their families. Gahan, who uses a powered wheelchair, recently traded a $9,500 Invacare Action Storm, which had been manufactured during the period covered by the recall, for a chair made by another company. She switched because she was in the market for a new wheelchair; Gahan says she hadn't known about the recall until she was asked about it. "If people had known about it, maybe those people wouldn't have died," she said. Invacare did tell regulators about some incidents of smoking, sparking and fires with its powered wheelchairs, particularly when mishaps occurred in the late 1990s and afterward, according to the FDA database that tracks reports of the failure or malfunction of medical devices. One entry made on July 20, 1999, says that the manufacturer "received a report alleging a wheelchair caught on fire." And, the report adds, the user "sustained burns and eventually died." That wheelchair was identified as a Power 9000. A different report involving a Power 9000 that was made on June 30, 1999, said the wheelchair ignited while the user was in it, and he "suffered second- and third-degree burns over much of his body." Other entries record incidents involving the model called Action Storm. For example, one wheelchair's "charger started smoking, shooting sparks and then flamed while the chair was being charged." Another
Action Storm was involved with an incident reported June 12, 2000, where
the wheelchair allegedly started a fire that burned half of the family's
garage. The dealer of a different Action Storm reported that a "consumer
was charging the wheelchair overnight, A wheelchair dealer alleged in a report that a powered Invacare wheelchair caught fire while it was in the shop for the upgrade as part of the recall. Product
recall page
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