Autopsy results on the dead?


Given the sudden deaths at police hands and under the TASER, I was surprised to see that the film didn't cover autopsy and blood results. If there were a suspicion of metabolic acidosis, wouldn't that have shown up consistently at fatal levels in the post mortems?I can see that the the amazingly slippery TASER executives would have insisted that the condition was caused by other factors including "moderate exertion" and that death would have been the outcome with or without the user of the TASER. That these court cases apparently took place in Canada explains why there wasn't a parade of pathologists on both sides testifying about the autopsy results. I haven't read about U.S. cases, but I would expect much higher rewards if the deaths were attributable to product liability. It would have been comparable to cigarettes and lung cancer.

Medical science had a real uphill struggle to prove the link, which seems so obvious and self-evident now (as if did then) but the powerful manipulations and delaying tactics that the tobacco companies ramped up delayed the final statement: "Smoking cigarettes directly causes lung cancer and other diseases." Just as the plaintiffs now are struggling to gain the admission that "Use of TASERs [at whatever level and duration] directly causes ventricular fibrillation in otherwise cardiac-healthy individuals, as well as metabolic acidosis resulting in fatality." If that's indeed true. One or two big awards upheld on appeal would be enough to re-classify TASERs as lethal force, and their use severely restricted. Not to mention having those very strange company officers held personally liable for punitive damages. I love the fond reminscences of the sons for those evenings sitting around the dinner table with mom and dad back in the early days, making history --- like Wozniak and Jobs in the basement, or Hewlett and Packard in their Palo Alto garage. I also didn't see much information in the film about any ongoing cardiac or neurological conditions directly attributable to long-duration or frequent TASER exposure. If death was the outcome in a number of cases, there should be quite a few people with long-term problems as well. I suppose that with most defendants being poor and lacking access to high-powered attorneys, ongoing injury or illness would be soft-pedaled or just shined on and ignored.

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