Correspondence

Self-Cardioversion

N Engl J Med 1995; 332:614March 2, 1995

Article

To the Editor:

We describe a physician who performed cardioversion on himself.

A 40-year-old plastic surgeon received an electric shock from a 110-V wall socket while trying to repair his examining-room lamp. He felt his heart beating very fast, and he felt dizzy. He dragged himself to his office operating room and attached himself to a heart monitor. He discovered that he was in rapid atrial fibrillation, with a heart rate of 160 per minute. On realizing that he was going to pass out, with no help immediately available, he charged a cardioverter–defibrillator and gave himself two shocks of 100 watt-seconds (100 joules). He fell off the table, but sinus rhythm was restored. Subsequent heart monitoring did not show a recurrence of arrhythmia.

Amin H. Karim, M.D.
Norman Berkman, M.D.
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030