Taser-Related Ocular Injuries: A Review of the Literature and Medico-Legal Implications

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Electric weapons have dangers associated with their use, such as burns and trauma related with the impacts of uncontrolled falls, even though they often minimize morbidity and mortality. The exact visual outcome of the damage inflicted is unknown, even though numerous studies have been documented in the literature about the ocular damage induced by the use of these tools.

Methods

We present a narrative review of types of eye damage associated with the use of the Taser. The following search terms were used to identify eligible articles through the PubMed database: “TASER”, “Conducted Electric Weapons”, “CEWs”.

Results

A total of 15 articles were included with information about 38 patients with eye damage associated with the use of taser. The majority of patients were males. In most cases the mechanism of injury was the penetration of the probe inside the eye. Clinical manifestations of ocular damage were present in only 18 out of 38 cases and varied according to the type of damage mechanism. Indeed, the cases in which the probe had penetrated the eye showed more severe clinical manifestations with a poor visual outcome.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the introduction of taser use for law enforcement requires serious consideration and adequate training for officers.

KEYWORDS:

• Energy-conducting injury
• forensic medicine
• ocular injury
• ophthalmic trauma
• taser

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Conceptualization, G.A. and F.G.; methodology, M.M.C.; validation, D.L., F.C. and S.R; writing—original draft preparation, G.A. and F.G.; writing—review and editing, D.S. and G.G.; supervision, F.C. and S.R.; project administration, S.R.; funding acquisition, S.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, MMC, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.