Who was Bobby Ray Stark? Bedridden man in hospital set on fire in front of horrified wife on Thanksgiving
Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: In a tragic incident, a bedridden man burned to death on Thanksgiving after hospital defibrillator pads set him ablaze while his horrified wife witnessed the heartwrenching ordeal. Kathy Stark watched her husband of 35 years, Bobby Ray Stark, go up in flames last Thursday, November 24, after his blood pressure plunged following complaints about chest pain.
A team of doctors and nurses began to assist Bobby with his chest pain. They pulled in a "crash cart" and attached defibrillator paddles to his chest to "shock his heart back in sinus rhythm," according to a GoFundMe set up by his daughter. While shocking the patient back to his regular rhythm, the faulty machine caught fire.
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According to Daily Mail, Bobby was bedridden for the last seven years after suffering from "several strokes" that left him paralyzed. On November 17, he had a part of his foot amputated before being transferred to TriStar Centennial Medical Center when the unfortunate incident occured. The medical staff discovered that a malfunction in the defibrillator paddles because of a faulty wire created a "fireball," which burned Bobby's chest, face, head, hands, throat, and lungs. Bobby was transferred to Skyline Hospital's burn unit but unfortunately later that day he was pronounced dead. Kathy has been living off Bobby's social security for the last seven years, as she has been his sole caretaker, reported the source.
"They started the [defibrillator] paddles, and it just blew up everything. I saw that, and I just burst out," Kathy told KSN in tears. "I said, 'He’s on fire, put him out,"' Kathy recalled the horrifying incident. The hospital told Kathy that "this has never happened before." The hospital said in a statement that it "extends our deepest sympathies to this family" and that it is "reviewing the care provided to the patient and the functionality of the equipment."
"The death of a loved one is always very difficult, and our hearts go out to this family," the hospital told the source. Bobby's daughter Joyce Feakes is currently staying with Kathy, called the hospital for answers and the pair are now demanding protocols to ensure that this does not happen again. "They need to make sure that that doesn’t happen to somebody else, so somebody else doesn’t lose their husband, their best friend, their dad. And even worse, we lost him on Thanksgiving," she told the source.
