“Two Planet Fitness patrons returned to the club and requested the AED, indicating that a man was dying outside,” the lawsuit alleges. “Despite knowing about the life-or-death situation unfolding, the Planet Fitness club manager refused.”
A Pennsylvania family has filed a lawsuit against Planet Fitness and a Philadelphia-area franchisee, claiming that the manager of a Clifton Heights gym refused to help 46-year-old Guy Harris after he suffered a heart attack outside.
According to NBC News, Harris died on January 22 after going into cardiac arrest near the Planet Fitness outlet. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Harris’s surviving spouse in a Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
Harris, a married father of two, had been driving his 11-year-old son to get an after-school snack when he began experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. He stopped driving, pulled over, and parked a short distance from the Planet Fitness.
Attorneys for the family note that Harris was a member at the same Planet Fitness location.,
Harris’s son left the car, called 911, and purportedly asked passersby for assistance.
Court documents state that one bystander, who had a medical background, began performing CPR on Harris; another told customers who were exiting Planet Fitness to go back inside and ask for an automated external defibrillator, or AED.
“Two Planet Fitness patrons returned to the club and requested the AED, indicating that a man was dying outside,” the lawsuit alleges. “Despite knowing about the life-or-death situation unfolding, the Planet Fitness club manager refused.”
The lawsuit names defendants including New Hampshire-based Planet Fitness Inc. and Keystone NFP Clifton LLC, the franchisee and operator of the Clifton Heights location.
An attorney for Harris’s wife, Taniqua Morene-Harris, said that the couple had been married for nearly 21 years at the time of Guy’s death; he passed away a day before his son turned 12.
“They’re all just shocked by this whole occurrence and how it happened,” said attorney Elizabeth Crawford, a partner at Philadelphia-based Kline & Specter, PC. “AEDs save lives—but only if they’re used.”
The lawsuit does not provide any specific explanation as to why the unnamed Planet Fitness manager refused to use the gym’s AED. However, it notes that several bystanders continued to perform CPR on Harris until first responders arrived; he was taken to a local hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead later the same day.
Crawford characterized the manager’s refusal as a “deliberate decision to withhold life-saving measures,” adding that the location of Harris’s heart attack—inside the gym, or outside of it—shouldn’t have provided any reason to deny access to an AED.
Harris’s wife now accuses Planet Fitness and its Clifton Heights franchisee of negligent acts resulting in Harris’ “extreme pain and suffering and untimely death.” It seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Sources
Lawsuit accuses Planet Fitness of refusing to assist man who had heart attack near Pennsylvania gym
Woman sues Planet Fitness in death of husband outside club’s front door
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