Judge Rules for Taser in Cause-of-Death Decisions
May 5th, 2008Chilling.
Via: Arizona Republic:
Taser International has fired a warning shot at medical examiners across the country.
The Scottsdale-based stun gun manufacturer increasingly is targeting state and county medical examiners with lawsuits and lobbying efforts to reverse and prevent medical rulings that Tasers contributed to someone’s death.
That effort on Friday helped lead an Ohio judge’s order to remove Taser’s name from three Summit County Medical Examiner autopsies that had ruled the stun gun contributed to three men’s deaths.
“We will hold people accountable and responsible for untrue statements,” Taser spokesman Steve Tuttle said earlier this week. “If that includes medical examiners, it includes medical examiners.”Many medical examiners, who are charged with determining the official causes of death, view the Scottsdale-based company’s efforts as disturbing, the spokesman for the National Association of Medical Examiners says.
“It is dangerously close to intimidation,” says Jeff Jentzen, president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. “At this point, we adamantly reject the fact that people can be sued for medical opinions that they make.”
In the Ohio case, the judge said the county offered no medical, scientific or electrical evidence to justify finding the stun gun was a factor in the deaths of two men in 2005 and another in 2006. Taser and the City of Akron sued the medical examiner, saying examiners in the case lacked the proper training to evaluate Tasers.
Chief Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said that her examiners rightly concluded Taser contributed to the deaths and said county lawyers will appeal the judge’s ruling.
“I would not be going forward with this if I did not believe in the rulings,” she said.
The judge’s order could have an immediate impact on criminal cases against five Summit County sheriff’s deputies who were charged in the 2006 “homicide” of a jail inmate. Instead of homicide, the judge ordered the cause of death changed to “undetermined.”
What’s the asymmetric-warfare answer to oppressive corporate lawsuits? A general template would be a wonderful thing to have, for countering companies like Taser International, and also Monsanto — and anyone else engaging in such harassment. “Voting with your dollars” doesn’t seem apply here, as medical examiners don’t buy tasers, and farmers often capitulate and buy Monsanto seeds just to end the harassment.
I’d love to hear your thoughts, anybody?