Taser International is so screwed...

A good friend of the Excited-Delirium blog sent me a copy of the "DECLARATION OF DOUGLAS P. ZIPES, M.D., IN OPPOSITION TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT", dated February 19, 2009.

This document is in relation to the case BUTLER v. TASER INTERNATIONAL, INC. et al.

It's a 36-page document that defies summarization.

Let's start with the C.V. of Dr. Zipes:

• BA cum laude Dartmouth College 1961
• M.D. cum laude Harvard Medical School 1964
• Distinguished Professor, Indiana University School of Medicine 1994
• Director of the Division of Cardiology Krannert Institute of Cardiology, 1995-2004
• Published over 800 medical articles and 21 textbooks
• Co-editor Cardiology Electrophysiology, From Cell to Bedside (2009, 5th ed)
• Co-editor Braunwald’s Heart Disease, (2008, 8h ed)
• Co-author Clinical Arrhythmology and Electrophysiology (2008)
• Past president of the Association of University Cardiologists and Cardiac Electrophysiology Society
• Founding member (1980) & President (1989-1990) Heart Rhythm Society (HRS)
• American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Chair of the Clinical
• Cardiac Electrophysiology Test Committee
• Co-Chair of the ACC/AHA/ European Society of Cardiology (ESC)/HRS Ventricular Arrhythmia and Sudden Cardiac Death Guideline Committee
• etc. (...it just goes on and on from there...)

Let's just say that qualifications of Dr. Zipes whistled past the qualifications of "Dr." Mark W. Kroll, (not a real doctor, an electrical engineer) about ten or eleven lines back.

Dr. Zipes:

I became concerned that TASER was misrepresenting that there are no cardiac risks posed by its ECDs. Accordingly, I delivered a PowerPoint presentation on those risks at the May 2009 Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) meeting in Boston. ... At the end of my presentation, Mark W. Kroll, Ph.D., an electrical engineer and the head of the TASER Scientific [sic] and Medical Advisory Board, was in the audience [!] and spoke in opposition to my remarks. Further, I told the president of TASER, Rick Smith, who was also in the audience [!], that TASER needed to issue a warning that its products might cause cardiac effects. We had sharp disagreements, and I left more concerned than ever about the undisclosed cardiac dangers of ECDs. ...

After the debate finished, the moderator polled the audience, and found that more than 90 percent of the audience supported my side of the debate that TASER ECD shocks could produce ventricular fibrillation. (TASER issued warnings to avoid chest shocks about four months later.) ...

Funny how Taser International sends all their high priced help [Pinky and The Brain] to attend meetings of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) while maintaining the ludicrous position that tasers have no significant effect on heart rhythm. Tasers probably don't affect the orbits of the planets, but I assume that Taser International doesn't send their unwashed hired help to attend meetings of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to make sure... 

Anyway...

Dr. Zipes states his opinion:

...that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the electrical impulses from a device manufactured by defendant TASER International, Inc., (TASER) caused Steven Butler’s cardiac arrest of October 7, 2006.

and

...that TASER’s representations of safety made to the involved police agency and officer prior to this incident were not correct, that the risk of causing cardiac arrest was well known prior to this incident, and that the risk could have been minimized had TASER issued proper warnings and training materials rather than false and exaggerated representations of cardiac safety. Finally, I address the inadequacies of TASER’s pre-release testing, and therefore the recklessness with which it marketed products for law enforcement officials to use on human beings.

The trial (Case No. CV 161436) resumes 22 March 2010.

Note - I don't have Internet links to this document at this time.

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UPDATE: Taser International caved-in like a house of cards and settled with Butler for about $3 million. They then attempted to keep the settlement under wraps, but the judge thought that public knowledge might be a better way forward. [LINK]

Note the implications. Although Mr. Butler survived his experience, this case indicates that tasers can cause cardiac arrest. The case was so clear that the defendant settled. The fact that they tried to hide the settlement also fits with their "Prevent Truth" company motto. Slime.