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Electrocardiographic Effects of the CEW

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TASER® Conducted Electrical Weapons: Physiology, Pathology, and Law

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With the advent of the Advanced TASER® M26 followed soon after by the X26 conducted electrical weapons (CEWs), initial concern for any possible physiologic damage was centered in the area of the cardiac conduction system. While this concern has been theoretical, it makes sense from the standpoint that a large number of people, including educated professionals, do not understand the basics of electrical current except what they were taught by their guardian growing up (e.g., don’t stick your finger in the electrical socket or you will kill yourself) or what they have gleaned over the years from literal experience or mass media advertisement (e.g., be careful when working on your roof not to come into contact with the overhead electrical power lines or you will electrocute yourself). What all of these scenarios have in common is that if sudden death from electrical current comes, it arrives in the form of a cardiac arrhythmia. Because of this, the initial focus of research into whether CEWs are causally connected to sudden custodial death was in the cardiac rhythm arena.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    * Jeffrey D. Ho reports serving as an expert research consultant and medical expert consultant to TASER International, Inc. and reports as a personal shareholder of TASER International stock. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this chapter was reported.

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  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, Hennepin County Medical Center, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jeffrey D. Ho

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    Ho, J.D. (2009). Electrocardiographic Effects of the CEW. In: Ho, J., Kroll, M. (eds) TASER® Conducted Electrical Weapons: Physiology, Pathology, and Law. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85475-5_10

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-85475-5_10

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