Shortly thereafter, in 1892, the term was used in Science to refer generically to death or injury caused by electricity. Factors in lethality of electric shock
The lethality of an electric shock is dependent on several variables:

Current. The higher the current, the more likely it is lethal. Since current is proportional to voltage when resistance is fixed (ohms law), high voltage is an indirect risk for producing higher currents. Duration. The longer the duration, the more likely it is lethal—safety switches may limit time of current flow
Pathway. If current flows through the heart muscle, it is more likely to be lethal. High voltage (over about 600 volts). In addition to greater current flow, high voltage may cause dielectric breakdown at the skin, thus lowering skin resistance and allowing further increased current flow. Medical implants. Artificial cardiac pacemakers or implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) are sensitive to very small currents. Pre-existing medical condition. Age and sex.Other issues affecting lethality are frequency, which is an issue in causing cardiac arrest or muscular spasms. Very high frequency electric current causes tissue burning, but does not penetrate the body far enough to cause cardiac arrest (see electrosurgery). Also important is the pathway: if the current passes through the chest or head, there is an increased chance of death. From a main circuit or power distribution panel the damage is more likely to be internal, leading to cardiac arrest.
The parrilla was commonly used at Villa Grimaldi, a prison complex maintained by Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, a part of the Pinochet regime. In the 1970s, during the Dirty War, the parrilla was used in Argentina. Francisco Tenório Júnior (known as Tenorinho), a Brazilian piano player, was subjected to the parrilla during the military dictatorship in Brazil.Advocates for the mentally ill and some psychiatrists such as Thomas Szasz have asserted that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is torture when used without a bona fide medical benefit against recalcitrant or non-responsive patients.The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts has been condemned for torture by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture for its use of electric shocks as punishment as part of its behavior modification program.Japanese serial killer Futoshi Matsunaga used electric shocks to control his victims. Capital punishment
Electric shock delivered by an electric chair is sometimes used as an official means of capital punishment in the United States, although its use has become rare from the 1990s onward due to the adoption of lethal injection. Although some original proponents of the electric chair considered it to be a more humane execution method than hanging, shooting, poison gassing, etc., it has now generally been replaced by lethal injections in states that practice capital punishment. Modern reporting has claimed that it sometimes takes several shocks to be lethal, and that the condemned person may actually catch fire before death. Other than in parts of the United States, only the Philippines reportedly has used this method, from 1926 to 1976.