Misinterpretation of fetal heart rate monitoring in case of intrauterine death.

Electronic fetal heart rate monitoring has become a routine examination to assess fetal well-being. This report presents an unusual case in which maternal heart rate tachycardia was obtained from a dead fetus and was interpreted erroneously. The dead fetus conducted maternal ECG even through a scalp electrode by amplifying the input signal through the Automatic Control system of the monitoring equipment. The importance of concomitant maternal radial pulse recording or a real time scan is stressed.