Taser Usage and Neurological Sequelae

Abstract

We read with interest the article by Levine et al., in which volunteers underwent cardiac monitoring before, during, and after deployment of a TASER® (TASER International Inc., Scottsdale, AZ) ( 1 Levine S.D. Sloane C.M. Chan T.C. Dunford J.V. Vilke G.M. Cardiac monitoring of human subjects exposed to the taser. J Emerg Med. 2007; 33: 113-117 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (64) Google Scholar ). The TASER (Thomas A. Swift's Electric Rifle), or electroshock gun, is an ostensibly non-lethal conducted electrical weapon that fires projectiles delivering high voltage (50,000 volts), low amperage (2.1 mA), direct-current electricity of 26W energy in rapid pulses (19 pulses/s) over 5 s, causing uncontrollable muscle contraction and facilitating restraint by incapacitating the suspect ( 1 Levine S.D. Sloane C.M. Chan T.C. Dunford J.V. Vilke G.M. Cardiac monitoring of human subjects exposed to the taser. J Emerg Med. 2007; 33: 113-117 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (64) Google Scholar , 2 Ho J.D. Miner J.R. Lakireddy D.R. Bultman L.L. Heegaard W.G. Cardiovascular and physiologic effects of conducted electrical weapon discharge in resting adults. Acad Emerg Med. 2006; 13: 589-595 Crossref PubMed Google Scholar , 3 Strote J. Range Hutson H. Taser use in restraint-related deaths. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2006; 10: 447-450 Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar ). The TASER is used by law enforcement agents and civilians alike in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere. Widespread use of the TASER has been temporally, but not directly, associated with injuries and fatalities, amongst them cardiac arrest and dysrhythmias, ocular injury, miscarriage, contusions, abrasions, lacerations, and testicular torsion ( 1 Levine S.D. Sloane C.M. Chan T.C. Dunford J.V. Vilke G.M. Cardiac monitoring of human subjects exposed to the taser. J Emerg Med. 2007; 33: 113-117 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (64) Google Scholar , 3 Strote J. Range Hutson H. Taser use in restraint-related deaths. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2006; 10: 447-450 Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar , 4 Chen S.L. Richard C.K. Murthy R.C. Lauer A.K. Perforating ocular injury by Taser. Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 2006; 34: 378-380 Crossref PubMed Scopus (38) Google Scholar , 5 Mehl L.E. Electrical injury from Tasering and miscarriage. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. 1992; 71: 118-123 Crossref PubMed Scopus (45) Google Scholar , 6 Ordog G.J. Wasserberger J. Schlater T. Balasubramanium S. Electronic gun (Taser) injuries. Ann Emerg Med. 1987; 16: 73-78 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (95) Google Scholar ). In view of these known complications, we would like to raise concerns about the practice of deploying the TASER on healthy volunteers, as well as question the advisability of its use when attempting to restrain or apprehend suspects. The disregard for the potential hazards of TASER use may have resulted in the posting of video vignettes of Tasered volunteers or innocent victims on websites such as YouTube. Furthermore, we are rather surprised at the paucity of neurological sequelae that have been reported to date, primarily rhabdomyolysis, “excited delirium,” that is, a state of agitation, excitability, paranoia, aggression, great strength, and numbness to pain, often associated with illegal stimulant use and psychiatric disease, and one report of seizure in a patient with a history of “a pre-existing medical condition” ( 3 Strote J. Range Hutson H. Taser use in restraint-related deaths. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2006; 10: 447-450 Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar , 6 Ordog G.J. Wasserberger J. Schlater T. Balasubramanium S. Electronic gun (Taser) injuries. Ann Emerg Med. 1987; 16: 73-78 Abstract Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (95) Google Scholar , 7 Paquette M. Excited delirium: does it exist?. Perspect Psychiatr Care. 2003; 39: 93-94 Crossref PubMed Scopus (21) Google Scholar , 8 Jenkinson E. Neeson C. Bleetman A. The relative risk of police use-of-force options: evaluating the potential for deployment of electronic weaponry. J Clin Forensic Med. 2006; 13: 229-241 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (64) Google Scholar ).