http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/05/02/20080502taser0503.html

I guess now, if a gun maker threatens to sue, Judges will just force medical examiners to remove gun shots from causes of death.

From Tasers reasoning, you don't die from getting buzzed with electrical charges. When you get hit by lightning or touch a wire, it's not the electricity that kills you, but some previously unheard of condition called Excited Delirium... Mind you this so called medical condition only seems to pop up after someone dies in a confrontation with police, the AMA and the APA don't recognize it.
Neither the AMA or the APA web pages have any listing for Excited delirium.
So science and the medical establishment doesn't support that Ex.Del. excuse,rather, the entire body is controlled by electrical impulses that the brain sends down the nerves, jumping from synapse to synapse that directs your body what to do, that includes breathing and the pumping of the heart.

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/2.html

There are primarily two effects. One is called electrical burns. Electrical burns, depending on the voltage, produce 2 or third degree burns. How does it create 2 or 3 degree burns? when electricity flows through your body it needs to discharge the amount of energy, and if there isn't an insulator/grounding source near by electricty gets discharged in the form of heat. The burns can cause a person to enter shock and die, this effect is called roasting or cooking. The second effect electricity has is that it can interrupt the electrocardio nodes that produce your ekg. Your heart has a designated ekg and electricity can interrupt this system. Now direct voltage isn't necessarily the killer in the taser situations, they're looking at the wrong effect, What can cause a total shutdown of the system, is the cycle of the current, or the Amps.

The high-voltage pulse of a Taser carries only a small current, typically 0.002 to 0.03 amps, although Taser Int. and others are currently promoting higher powered models.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tasers/

Electrocution occurs when a small, specific amount of electrical current flows through the heart for 1 to 3 seconds. 0.006-0.2 Amperes of current flowing through the heart disrupts the normal coordination the valves of the heart. These muscles loose their vital rhythm and fibralation occurs. Death can and does follow quickly. Taser's amperage falls inside of the amps that can cause this sudden death. If it travels through the heart (via the left arm), 0.03 amps is sufficient to kill people with weak hearts with great speed, though it's usually around 0.05 amps to kill a healthy person.

I'm just speculating, but I doubt that those weilding Tasers are going to check your medical history before they pull the trigger.


I suppose science just has no bearing on this Judge, that he's suddenly a medical and electro-sciences expert... or maybe he has some stock in Taser Int.

figures

It's pretty sad when a Judge can tell a medical examiner what can and can't be listed as a cause of death...