Tasers Pose Risks to Heart, a Study Warns (Taser Shot to the Chest Can Kill)

[Hissyspit]

Source: The New York Times

Tasers Pose Risks to Heart, a Study Warns

By ERICA GOODE
Published: April 30, 2012

The electrical shock delivered to the chest by a Taser can lead to cardiac arrest and sudden death, according to a new study, although it is unknown how frequently such deaths occur.

- snip -

The study, which analyzed detailed records from the cases of eight people who went into cardiac arrest after receiving shocks from a Taser X26 fired at a distance, is likely to add to the debate about the safety of the weapons. Seven of the people in the study died; one survived.

Advocacy groups like Amnesty International have argued that Tasers, the most widely used of a class of weapons known as electrical control devices, are potentially lethal and that stricter rules should govern their use.

- snip -

“This is no longer arguable,” said Dr. Byron Lee, a cardiologist and director of the electrophysiology laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. “This is a scientific fact. The national debate should now center on whether the risk of sudden death with Tasers is low enough to warrant widespread use by law enforcement.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/research/taser-shot-to-the-chest-can-kill-a-study-warns.html

[Lawlbringer]

1. They do reports on these every few months.

Frankly, I'm more upset that they're wasting funds by doing studies like these. Obviously large voltage and amperage currents passing through your body is going to upset muscle tissue (which your heart is made up of), so...yeah.

Not gonna stop people from using them.

[xchrom]

4. Not me. Get the #s, how likely, what the

Expectations for damage are ... The studied empirical facts.

It's never bad to have that.

And 'common sense' is never - nor should it be - good enough.

[xchrom]

2. Official declarations of SURPRISE! And official declarations

Of how responsible the police are in
3--2--1...

[The Magistrate]

3. Gosh, Ma'am, Who Would Have Ever Thought Incapacitating Shocks Could Be bad For the Heart

These things are grossly over-used, and are over-used because they are so easy to use, and so safe for the user....

[DeSwiss]

5. K&R - Let the lawsuits begin!!! - n/t

[Dawson Leery]

6. No s**t! Between the MIC, those GD Smith Brothers and the GD Police Unions,

we are seeing even more and more weapons (not "tools", as guns, tasers, pepper spray, Batons, etc ARE WEAPONS).
The public should have no trust given towards these institution.

[polly7]

7. NSS! (not you Hissyspit) These tasers should have never been introduced. n/t

[Gregorian]

8. I said a long time ago that it's like a portable electrophysiology lab!

If you want to induce ventricular arrhythmias, all you'd need is a taser. What kind of dipshits have allowed this to continue, death after death after death. And just what does and does not constitute "unusual and cruel "? Everyone should be furious over this.

edit- Aha! Now that I've actually read the article, I see they mention E-Phys labs. Good. Having worked in cardiology, I can say it's about time some people listened to us.

[Meiko]

9. Well

In the good old days the cops just shot you or in most cases they just beat you senseless with nightclubs. The thing here is that cops don't want to have to get down on the ground and wrestle around with bad guys, I don't blame them. Tasers were developed because of the outcry by citizens of excessive force used by police. There were just too many shootings an beatings and people got tired of it, in addition the cops were tired of being investigated.

Tasers have been in use for quite awhile now and they are used a lot. I suppose that when you have X number of cops using X number of tasers you are going to have some deaths. I have to agree with Dr. Lee. It is time to take a look at tasers again and see if they have become just a little too efficient, and while we are investigating we need to look at how the police deploy these weapons.

[felix_numinous]

10. Taser voltage can exceed specifications

[cigsandcoffee]

11. A 9mm to the chest can kill, too. Tasers are a good thing that happened for the mentally ill.

Before tasers, mentally ill people who had a violent episode would most likely end up shot and dead. Now thay can be subdued in a way far less likely to cause permanent harm.

Should they be overused or casually used? Of course not - but it's not a terrible thing that a cop has an alternative to lethal force that's a bit more effective than pepper spray.

[valerief]

13. Animals are sedated without being killed. Why can't people be? nt

[cigsandcoffee]

14. Because animals don't have human intelligence, I'd say....

...and can't just pretend to be sedated, while waiting for a person to drop their guard. Cops must not want to trust their lives to tranquilizer darts, and the varying times it will take people to be affected by them. It probably took some doing to get them to trust tasers.

[valerief]

16. Naw, they took to tasers like teabaggers take to assault weapons. nt

[cigsandcoffee]

17. They wouldn't rather just use their guns, then? n/t

[IamK]

19. they could sedate with the night sticks --- Rodney King.... n/t

I think the taser is the better option if logic does not work....

[Hoyt]

15. I tend to agree. I would hope that police don't use the taser when other options are available.

But, tasers are clearly better than shooting folks.

[madrchsod]

20. no one should EVER use a tazer on a mentally person is having a violent episode

where my wife works the employees are trained to deal with these situations in a NON LETHAL way. another facility in our city that deals with even more violent people use at least two people at all times to deal with violent situations.

i`m assuming that you do not know what people like my wife deals with and how she resolves the situation in a non violent manner. there is NO EXCUSE for a police officer to use any weapon on a mentally ill person.

[shanti]

22. they did just that here in sacramento several months ago

and the mentally ill guy died from it. it could have been avoided, but LEO's always come up with some excuse for why they HAD to taze the person.

[valerief]

12. From the Duh file. Now cops will stop using them, right? Hell, they'll probably use them more often.

[Daniel537]

18. They've already domesticated us into accepting these fucking things.

Kill or shoot someone with a gun and it becomes a big deal. Tasing them, though, ahh that's ok. Its the "nice" way of abusing people.

[BlueIris]

21. Tasers are no less dangerous than guns.

They should be banned.

[felix_numinous]

23. I think brutality is the underlying issue

--it is the ABUSE of power, taking advantage of one's position. A harsh and dominating culture is marked by a stressed out populace that is more prone to violence and irrational meltdowns. Of course people without enough money, jobs or education are going to stress out.

People stressed out will mis-use any tool that they have, whether it is a 'safe' taser or gun. People acting out of FEAR are using their primitive lower brains--it is a clusterfuck unless our whole country finds a way to take a giant chill.

The answer is NOT more intimidation, more crowd control equipment, more arrests, more SWAT style home invasions, shooting pets, tasing old people to death. This is NOT the way forward, this trajectory will result in a worse situation because people feel LESS SAFE not MORE. A police state is an idiot solution to a troubled economy. Authoritarianism is a LAZY and SHORT TERM over-simplified way of dealing with a complex situation.

We cannot allow this to happen to our country.