Stun guns can result in sudden cardiac arrest and death: cardiologist
May 3, 2012
Taser (Credit: Taser, Inc.)
A review of case reports published April 30 in the journal Circulation indicates that being shocked in the chest with an electronic control device or stun gun can result in sudden cardiac arrest.
The article is reportedly the first one published in a peer-reviewed medical journal citing the connection.
“Law enforcement and other individuals using a stun gun need to be aware that cardiac arrest can occur, however infrequently, and therefore it should be used judiciously, and an unconscious individual should be monitored closely and resuscitated if necessary,” said study author Douglas P. Zipes, M.D., Distinguished Professor and director emeritus of the Krannert Institute of Cardiology at the Indiana University School of Medicine.
A cardiologist and electrophysiologist, Dr. Zipes reviewed the electrocardiogram results, medical records and of eight men who lost consciousness after being shot in the chest with a stun gun, the TASER X26, which is the most common type. Seven of the men died and Dr. Zipes also reviewed their autopsy results; one survived with memory impairment.
Dr. Zipes said he had access to the men’s reports as an expert witness against TASER International.
“An ECD shock delivered through the chest wall can ‘capture’ the heartbeat, taking over the heart’s natural ability to regulate itself,” said Dr. Zipes, editor-in-chief of the journal Heart Rhythm and past president of the Heart Rhythm Society and American College of Cardiology. “A fighting, fleeing individual might have a normal heart rate of 150, but the ECD shock may increase that rate substantially, leading to ventricular tachycardia, which can progress into ventricular fibrillation that stops normal blood flow.”
At this point, the person is having a sudden cardiac arrest and will collapse with abnormal breathing. The American Heart Association recommends immediate CPR to pump blood to the heart and brain when this occurs.
Dr. Zipes said some of the victims reportedly had structural heart disease and/or elevated blood alcohol during the incidents. Previous research suggests that these factors could have facilitated the development of the ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation by an electronic control device shock, he said.
“The purpose of this article is not to condemn stun gun use by trained professionals,” Dr. Zipes said. “Law enforcement experts must make those decisions, not physicians.”
Ref.: Zipes DP “Sudden cardiac arrest and death associated with application of shocks from a taser electronic control device” Circulation 2012; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.097584
Comments (11)
by jc
@BG : If tasers are used literally in only situations where a gun would have previously been required, then fine. Are you suggesting that in the absence of tasers, shooting the “don’t tase me, Bro” guy would have been acceptable? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Florida_Taser_incident . Tasers have come to be used so casually that even annoying a police officer puts you at serious risk of tasing.
by Jefferson
Mac, you’re retired – time to switch off the cognitive dissonance and disregard the thin blue line. The fact is that tasers can kill people. So can pepper spray, to address another item you brought up. You’re not a physician, so please leave the post-op diagnosis to the pros.
by Mac
http://www.aele.org/law/2009all01/iacp-oc-deaths1994.pdf
by Mac
This is what an ‘Excited Delirium’ death looks like. Note no Taser used, and the only force used was low level physical force to get handcuffs on him. During my years as an LEO I have observed similar incidents that nearly all involved hyper-stimulant usage. The one I was involved in involved methamphetamines and no use of force whatsoever except handcuffs used as restraint. The article would suggest that it is Tasers causing these deaths. I ask the rational how these deaths are happening without Tasers?
by Mac
We observe the same phenomenon in wildlife….(note no Tasers were used).
http://www.unbc.ca/nlui/wildlife_diseases_bc/exertional_myopathy.htm
There is a larger issue here, but fixating on a singular tool (Taser, OC, etc) when the phenomenon occurs independently and consistently devoid of that tool is engaging in fallacy.
by Mac
I’m curious as to what the doctors attributed all the previous identical in-custody death cases too that were identical in every way, EXCEPT that they didn’t involve a Taser.
Previous to the Taser, Pepperspray was supposedly ‘killing’ people in the same circumstances………prior to that it was neck restraints, positional asphyxia, etc……….the deaths were identical, but the uses of force were not.
Which brings up the question…….does the good doctor (who was presumadely paid very well for his expert testimony) know what a ‘Causation/Correlation Fallacy’ is?
http://www.aele.org/law/2009all01/iacp-oc-deaths1994.pdf
Now, I ask the rational observer (distinct from the emotionally hijacked observer) to come up to a rational hypothesis as to what is the cause of these ‘Taser deaths’ if they have consistently occurred even before the Taser was invented……….in fact, we record identical death cases before the very word ‘Taser’ was invented…………previously the psychological world called it ‘Capture Myopathy’ when it was first recorded over 100 years ago in mental health facilities.
So the question is……..if the accused mechanism of death, in this case, results in ‘death’ even where it wasn’t used and before it was invented, is it the mechanism of death?
by Raymond Torres
I think these stun guns should be used more carefully
by peter g
the pigs us this to shoot any random sucker who doesn’t cooperate
they need to treat it more like a real gun
by BG
You’re right. I guess they should go back to the previous methods, which were to shoot many of these people with live rounds.
Sometimes it’s important to look at what the previous methods are to determine the lesser of two or three evils. The choices would seem to be in a lot of cases, taser, live rounds or do nothing. Doing nothing when someone is proceeding to hurt or kill another individual has it’s own negative effects.
by Editor
Not aiming for the chest would help.
by Greg
you mean shooting people with electricity as a form for of restraint is a bad idea?!