The current widespread interest in early (pre-hospital) coronary care has raised questions regarding the safety and efficacy of the use of atropine in these circumstances. Although reports from early coronary care systems have been favorable, serious questions of safety have been raised on the basis of experimental animal studies and isolated case reports. A sample of the experience of a large scale emergency coronary care system in Columbus, Ohio has therefore been reviewed. A group of 70 patients who, during the early phases of myocardial infarction, exhibited bradyarrhythmia (less than 60 beats/min) was identified. When this group was further categorized on the basis of arterial pressure at the time of initial observation, patients with normal or elevated blood pressure had low mortality rates whether treated with atropine or not. In patients with hypotension the mortality rate was 75 percent without therapy, and 25 percent with therapy. Indeed, when normal hemodynamics were restored, the mortality rate was only 11 percent. Unexpected ventricular fibrillation occurred in 1 of 45 treated patients and 2 of 25 untreated patients. Although the study was not controlled, the data strongly suggest that atropine is both beneficial and safe for use in treating bradyarrhythmia and hypotension in the early phase of acute myocardial infarction.