FDA urges consumers to stop using massager

NEAR FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- The FDA is warning consumers to stop using a neck massager after a South Florida woman was strangled to death while using the device.

Last Christmas Eve, Dr. Michelle Ferrari-Gegerson of Parkland was wrapping Christmas gifts when she decided to take a break and use her ShoulderFlex Massager.

According to investigators, Ferrari-Gegerson was still wearing her necklace when she used the neck massager. An exposed rotating gear on the device got tangled up with Ferrari-Gegerson's necklace and strangled her to death. "It appears that this woman laid down after wrapping some Christmas gifts to massage her neck with this machine, and she was wearing a leather choker, contrary to the warning, and the machine apparently grabbed this choker and very quickly compressed the carotid artery," said BSO Director Jim Leljedal.

The Broward Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into the death of Ferrari-Gegerson, 37. A few weeks into the death investigation, BSO contacted the U.S. Product Safety Commission about the electric neck massager.

The FDA has now issued an alert urging consumers who own the ShoulderFlex Deep Kneading Shiatsu Massager to throw it out. Cariny Nunez of the FDA said, "There was another incident with a near strangulation from another consumer, and we recently learned that King International, who is the distributor of the medical device, has two additional reports of incidents involving clothing and hair becoming caught in the device."

King International, based in Oregon, has distributed about 12,000 of the neck massagers since 2003.

The ShoulderFlex Massager is still being sold online for $129, but the company has informed the FDA that it is beginning to recall the device.

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