BMJ 2012; 344: e3086.

EN-GB/Campaigns/CIC/Care_in_Crisis_report_2014.pdf?dtrk = true). 20 Huhne C. Someone needs to fight the selfish short-sighted old. Guardian 2013; 23 December. The electrical stimulus of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may have effects other than the induction of cerebral seizure activity. It was recognised soon after the introduction of ECT that the stimulus could affect the heart, usually causing a bradycardia resulting from the electrical stimulation of the motor nucleus of the vagus nerve and nucleus ambiguus, within the medulla oblongata.1 This bradycardia can be severe and as long ago as 1978 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) stated that the bradycardia might even be prolonged enough to cause cardiac arrest.2 Although no references were given to support this concern, asystole and cardiac arrest hav