Newswise — The Taser stun gun, widely used by police departments around the world, is intended to deliver a brief electric shock to unruly and violent criminal suspects. But that's not always the case, and sometimes seemingly harmless people get shocked, too. A handful of people have even died in the aftermath of getting shot by a stun gun, most recently in the October case of one man who died after being shocked at the Vancouver airport. Are Tasers safe?
IEEE Spectrum delves into how a Taser works. Mark W. Kroll, a biomedical engineer and expert on medical devices, takes a close look at what happens when a Taser X26 dart hits person, while Patrick Tchou, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist, explores in a companion piece what it would take for a Taser shot to be fatal.
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