A 65-year-old man in Nara Prefecture died after a defibrillator failed to work, prompting its distributor to announce a recall of nearly 4,700 pairs of disposable pads for the device, a local government and the distributor said.
The man was found collapsed in the city of Yamatokoriyama last Friday. Paramedics were called to the scene and tried to use a defibrillator, only to find it did not work. The device indicated the electrode pad connections had failed.
The man was confirmed dead after being taken to a nearby hospital, the Nara Prefectural Government said.
Tokyo-based Nihon Kohden Corp., which sells the defibrillator involved, said there was a problem with the disposable electrode pads, although it was unclear whether the death was directly linked to the problem.