Electrocution causes injury and death in a variety of ways that may include various arrhythmias, complete asystole, or respiratory cessation resulting from damage to the respiratory centers of the brain. Burn injuries are nearly universal in cases of high voltage electrocution and may be useful in delineating points of contact with the electrical current. While the skin normally has very high resistance to electrical current, the resistance drops dramatically when the skin is wet or injured. By contrast, internal organs have a very low resistance, meaning once the current passes through the skin, the internal organs are readily affected., When the skin is wet, the resistance of the skin is much lower than usual.
Electrocution injuries medical expert witness specialties include forensic pathology, emergency medicine, EMT, emergency nursing, burn medicine/surgery, cardiology, cardiac electrophysiology, and neurology.