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Cardiac arrest possible after Taser administration; consider risk in unresponsive patient
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Those who lose consciousness after being hit with an electronic control device may experience cardiac electrical capture followed by cardiac arrest resulting from ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation.
Douglas P. Zipes, MD, distinguished professor emeritus of medicine, Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, looked at eight cases of loss of consciousness after the administration of electronic control device (ECD) shocks from the Taser X26 device (Taser International Inc.).
Douglas P. Zipes
Records available were analyzed for each case, including police, medical and emergency response records; ECD dataport interrogation; automated external defibrillator information; ECG strips; depositions; and autopsy results. All patients were men and were previously clinically healthy.
Ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation were the first recorded rhythms in six of the cases and asystole after about 30 minutes of nonresponsiveness in one case. In one case, an external defibrillator reported a shockable rhythm, but no recording was made, according to the research. Seven of the eight men died.
Zipes concluded that ECD shocks from a Taser model X26 delivered via probes to the chest can cause cardiac electrical capture. Asystole can develop after prolonged ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation without resuscitation.
“The purpose of this article was to educate users, not to condemn the use of Tasers, that cardiac arrest is possible and to be prepared to search for this in an unresponsive individual following Taser administration,” Zipes, Cardiology Today Arrhythmia Disorders Section Editor, said in an interview.
For more information:
Zipes DP. Circulation. 2012;doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.097584.
Disclosure: Dr. Zipes has served (and in the future may serve) as a paid plaintiff expert witness in ECD-related sudden cardiac arrest/death cases. However, that role has provided access to critical and detailed records necessary to determine the potential for ECD-induced sudden cardiac arrest and death. Despite this conflict, Dr. Zipes has attempted to present the salient facts about the cases and to offer scientific evidence, credible argument and logic to support the conclusions to a reasonable degree of medical certainty.