'I don't have my little angel'
Police investigate death of teen whose ventilator stopped in power outage
Despite his severe disabilities, Fernando Vargas was a typical teenager in many ways. He rejected his mother's beloved salsa and merengue music, choosing soothing classical instead. Whenever she spoke to him in Spanish he shot her a withering look, preferring English. Yet he couldn't resist smiling when his mother rubbed his skin with scented lotion.
Vargas, 15, died around dawn Friday when the ventilator he relied on to breathe stopped working during a two-hour power outage in East Boston. A backup battery his family had frequently used to take him on trips to the beach and to the
Now Vargas's mother, Ilia Torres, and stepfather, Ariel Acevedo, are awaiting answers from police, the manufacturer, and state healthcare providers who gave the family the ventilator equipment in 2004 as they try to understand what went wrong.
"I don't know if it's the power or the battery or what," Torres said yesterday, crying in the living room of her darkened apartment, its shades drawn. "But I don't have my little angel."
Boston police said Friday that a preliminary investigation indicated that the backup battery to the ventilator Vargas used failed. Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll did not return phone calls yesterday, but said through department spokesman Eddy Chrispin that the serial number was unavailable and had not been included on the police report. Chrispin said he did not know why it was not included.
Family members identified the manufacturer of the ventilator as Pulmonetic Systems Inc. of Minnesota. The company was involved in a voluntary recall of its ventilators in 2004, according to the Food and Drug Administration and a company press release. More than 10,000 Pulmonetic ventilator systems built before Sept. 1, 2003, had the potential to malfunction when switching to an internal battery when an external power source was inadequate or failed.
In April, a coroner's jury in Illinois ruled that a faulty ventilator manufactured by Pulmonetic Systems was responsible for the death of a 2-year-old boy in Hopedale, Ill. The boy, who had muscular dystrophy, died from asphyxia.
It was unclear yesterday whether Vargas's ventilator was among those under the recall. Acevedo and Torres said they did not know the device's serial number, but he said Vargas began using the ventilator in 2004. The family got the equipment from New England Home Therapies, a company that works as a contractor for the state's low-income health insurance program, Mass Health.
Kim Tanzer, a spokeswoman for New England Home Therapies, said yesterday that the company had retrieved Vargas's ventilator from police and had turned it over to Pulmonetic Systems for diagnostic review. She also confirmed that Vargas used an
Donna Gaidamak, a spokeswoman for Pulmonetic, said yesterday that the company had not been contacted by Boston police investigators.
"We haven't been notified by anyone," she said. "If it's one of ours, we'll surely investigate it."
Vargas had relied on a tracheotomy tube in his throat to breathe since 2004, when his health worsened. Born with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, mental retardation, and a host of other medical ailments, Vargas was unable to walk or talk.
Both mother and son moved from their native Puerto Rico to the United States after a doctor told Torres she would receive better healthcare services here.
Torres initially settled in Florida, where her father lived. She met Acevedo, who lived in Boston, 13 years ago on the Internet and the two have been a couple ever since. The year they met, Acevedo brought them from Florida to his home in Boston. Last year the couple began planning to marry, but Torres said they postponed the wedding when Vargas's health deteriorated in March. For the past several months, he had been a patient at Children's Hospital Boston, fighting an infection that had racked his body.
Torres said she often went to the hospital to massage her son's legs and body. Unable to talk, he communicated often through eye blinks and other facial expressions. Yesterday she said she is taking a course to become certified as a massage therapist. She signed up for the course to help her son, but plans to complete it now to help others.
"I am pretty sure he would want me to be strong and help other people with disabilities and that is what I am going to do," she said.
Vargas was released from Children's Hospital just over a week ago. Acevedo said he had asked the boy's doctors to allow him to come home with the sleek new ventilator he had used in the hospital, but they said no.
Torres said the Pulmonetic Systems ventilator operated with an external battery that needed to be manually installed when electricity was unavailable.
On the night of the power outage, family members were alerted that Vargas's ventilator had shut off when an alarm in the machine sounded, awaking them.
Acevedo said he got out of bed and switched the machine to its external battery. Then he touched Vargas's forehead with his hand and returned to bed. Less than an hour later, Julia Guerrero, a state-subsidized live-in personal-care attendant also checked on Vargas. She found his lifeless body and the ventilator off.
"That boy was our life," he said. "I want to get to the bottom of this."
Yesterday, friends erected a small shrine in the hallway of the public housing complex that included candles and a photo of Vargas on his 14th birthday. Vargas loved trips to the beach, Torres said. She also said she hoped Mayor Thomas Menino would consider funding a pool for physical therapy at the William Carter School School in Boston, where he was a student, in Vargas's memory.
The family said they are not planning a funeral, but will have his remains cremated and keep them in their home when an autopsy is completed.
Torres said yesterday that the backup battery had never failed her before during countless day trips to Vargas's favorite places, such as Hampton Beach.
"Fernando enjoyed the breeze of the sea," she said. "I don't feel like he's gone. I feel like he's only in the hospital and like he's going to come home soon."
Globe reporter John R. Ellement and Globe correspondent Ryan Kost contributed to this story.
