Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jan 2007
Source: Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
Copyright: 2007 The Lawrence Journal-World
Contact: http://www.ljworld.com/site/submit-letter
Website: http://www.ljworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1075
Author: Heather Hollingsworth, Associated Press Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/women.htm (Women)

EXPERTS DISPUTE RISKS OF USING STUN GUNS ON PREGNANT WOMEN

Tianesha Robinson was about four months pregnant last fall when she 
was jolted with a Taser stun gun while resisting arrest during a traffic stop.

After experiencing cramps for several weeks, the 33-year-old Wichita, 
Kan., woman miscarried. Her family insists there is a connection 
between the miscarriage and the roughly 50,000-volt shock that 
subdued her, though doctors said the link would be more clear had she 
miscarried immediately after the shock.

That kind of uncertainty is fueling debate about the safety of the devices.

Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz., has said its products are 
safe law enforcement tools but did not return several calls for 
comment on this story.

Possible Dangers

The human rights group Amnesty International has identified more than 
230 people who have died after being stunned since June 2001. The 
group is particularly concerned about the use of Tasers on vulnerable 
people, such as those who are pregnant, sick or very young or old.

Dalia Hashad, director of Amnestya€TMs USA Program, said it can be 
difficult to tell whether someone is a member of one of those 
vulnerable groups.

"People with heart problems aren't always identifiable by appearance 
and people who are pregnant are not always identifiable until the 
later half of their pregnancy, sometimes not until the last 
trimester,"  Hashad said.

She said the group wasn't aware of anyone who tracked the number of 
pregnant women who have been shocked with Tasers, but other women 
besides Robinson have reported suffering miscarriages after sustaining shocks.

Risks to fetuses

One woman, Cindy Grippi, settled a lawsuit with the city of Chula 
Vista, Calif., for $675,000. She delivered a stillborn girl in 
December 2001 after police used a Taser on her when she refused to 
halt. A medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death and 
suggested Grippi's methamphetamine use could be to blame.

"There is one thing we know,"  said Fabrice Czarnecki, an emergency 
physician and staff doctor for the Police Policy Studies Council, a 
law enforcement research training and consulting group. "If you are 
hit by a Taser you are likely to fall. We know even minor trauma 
during pregnancy, like a fall, is dangerous and could be fatal to the 
fetus. Again, we don't know whether the risk is 1 percent or 5 
percent. We don't know. But we know it's there."

Taser itself warns on its Web site that people who are infirm or 
pregnant may be at higher risk of secondary injuries, such as those 
due to falls.

"As far as the electricity on the fetus, I think it may be 
dangerous,"  Czarnecki added, noting there's an absence of 
peer-reviewed research on the subject.

Czarnecki said Taser has conducted one unpublished animal study that 
found the Taser did not induce miscarriage in two pregnant pigs. But 
Czarnecki also noted a 1992 case report regarding a woman who was 
shocked with a predecessor of the modern-day Taser when she was 12 
weeks pregnant. She began to miscarry seven days later.

The author, Lewis E. Mehl, concluded that the devices could deliver 
electrical injuries capable of harming a fetus.

"Ethical questions should be raised about the criteria for the use of 
the Taser on women of childbearing age,"  wrote Mehl, now an 
associate professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the 
University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine in Canada.

Miscarriage

In the case of Robinson, there is some dispute about how pregnant she 
appeared. The Sedgwick County deputy has told supervisors he was 
unaware that she was pregnant when he shocked her. But her aunt, 
Betty Arnold, said her niece was obviously showing.

Robinson was jolted Sept. 29 after she wriggled free of handcuffs and 
fled police during a traffic stop. The deputy chased her down and 
deployed the Taser, but the probes missed. He later pushed the barrel 
of the stun gun once against the side of her abdomen and once against 
her back, Sedgwick County Undersheriff Bob Hinshaw said.

Using a Taser that way, known as a "drive stun,"  causes isolated 
pain, but not the total incapacitation that would have occurred if 
the probes had hit her, Hinshaw said.

Robinson was taken into custody and held at the county jail. There, 
she miscarried Oct. 25 after going into labor.

Six days later, she was convicted of escaping from custody during a 
July altercation and driving with a suspended license in March 2003. 
She was sentenced to time already served.

Because Robinson did not miscarry immediately, Arnold said attorneys 
showed little interest in her case.

"Until someone stands up and holds police departments and 
manufacturers of this instrument more accountable, I think there are 
going to be a lot of babies that suffer,"  Arnold said.

Hinshaw said the department conducted a review and determined the 
arresting deputy did not violate departmental policies when he used 
the Taser on Robinson. The jail also conducted a review and 
determined the care Robinson received was appropriate.

"Regardless of how it got to that point, you're still talking about 
the miscarriage of a baby,"  he said. "That's a tragedy, especially 
for the expectant mother."

He said the incident was not considered a lethal-force situation.

"But ask yourself, if it's a lethal force situation, what's the 
better situation -- a Taser or a firearm? It really boils down to the 
actions of the suspect and the unique factors going on at the time."
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