Doctors point directly to Taser in death of teen

By Vince Mancini

Published on September 06, 2005

Paul Kim and Wayne Franklin, two heart specialists at Children's Memorial Hospital in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week say the electricity delivered by the Taser stun gun caused the boy to suffer "ventricular fibrillation", in which the heart stops beating.

Paramedics at the scene restarted the boy's heart with a defibrillator. In the letter, the doctors argue that police who carry Tasers should carry such medical equipment for such a case.

The authors of the letter both work at Children's Memorial, where the boy was treated after the incident.

The letter comes after a similar conclusion by the Cook County medical examiner's office in a case that happened the same week. The medical examiner ruled the death of Ronald Hasse was a homicide, occurring after Chicago Police used a Taser for nearly a minute to subdue him.

That ruling was the first in the nation that listed Taser as the primary cause of death.

Taser International, the Arizona company that makes the weapons, disputes the medical examiner's claim and challenges the Children's Memorial doctors' conclusion.

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