A FORMER York City chairman had to undergo an operation to correct a faulty defibrillator wired to his heart after the device began sending 800-volt shocks through his body every day.

Steve Beck, 54, of Riccall, was fitted with a pacemaker and defibrillator last year after his heart stopped beating twice as he sped to hospital in the back of an emergency ambulance.

However, the defibrillator began to react unpredictably due to the complex nature of Mr Beck’s condition.

He said: “I had one occasion when the defibrillator went off 44 times in four hours.

“I wouldn’t say they lasted for hours; they went fairly quickly, but I was exhausted.

“You can tell from the reaction of the people around you that they know you are going through something horrific.

“The device delivers 800 volts for a millisecond. I was completely drained.”

The defibrillator fitted to Mr Beck should only have delivered the jolts in the event of his heart beating too quickly.

The device had been fitted at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) exactly as it would have been for any other patient.

However, Mr Beck’s unique condition was identified as the cause of the problems.

He said: “The defibrillator should have just been an emergency measure but by the time we got to Christmas it had gone off about 60 or 70 times.”

Mr Beck was taken into LGI and underwent a three-hour operation to correct the problem.

“The defibrillator hadn’t gone wrong. Where they usually put the wires had caused an aggravation of the heart. The surgeons weren’t to know; in 99 per cent of cases it would have been fine.”

So far the operation has been a success as Mr Beck has not suffered a repeat malfunction of the defibrillator and he is recovering at home.

“I don’t blame the surgeons or the defibrillator, because without it ,I would be dead,” he said.

A spokesman for LGI said: “No two patients are exactly alike and there is always a possible risk of a complication with any procedure.”