Cardiac Monitoring of Subjects Exposed to the Taser

Abstract

Subjects demonstrated baseline tachycardia, and heart rate increased 20 bpm after shock (Figure 1). The Taser® is a “less lethal” weapon now in use by nearly one third of U.S. law enforcement agencies. Though regarded as safe, there are reports of sudden death in association with its use, and there are no prospective human safety studies. We sought to determine whether ECG disturbances developed when the Taser® was deployed on healthy volunteers.