Error 53 on iPhone 6

My phone was working fine until I plugged it into my mac today. I tried to update the iPhone operating system and ended up getting the error 53. I have tried everything suggested in the support articles and even contacted apple support and the suggestion was that my imac and software is out of date. I tried to restore on my newer MacBook pro and ran into the same error 53 — essentially my phone which was fully working, in immaculate condition is now a brick.

So, is is possible that my mac operating system (El Capitan) which is old, is the culprit?

Apple has a support article about this where it suggests a fix but it suggests making sure your iPhone has up to date itunes, but how can you update itunes on a bricked phone.

Something is making me suspicious here especially after reading about the law suit concerning error 53. I desperately need my phone back but I’m absolutely stumped.