19 votes

US police blame some deaths on ‘excited delirium.’ Emergency physicians consider formally disavowing the diagnosis

Posted by boxer_dogs_dance
Tags: healthcare.emergency, usa, police, diagnostics, excited delirium, policing, deaths, doctors, author.markian hawryluk, author.renuka rayasam
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/police-blame-some-deaths-on-excited-delirium-er-docs-consider-pulling-the-plug-on-the-term/

Link information

This data is scraped automatically and may be incorrect.

Title
Police Blame Some Deaths on 'Excited Delirium.' ER Docs Consider Pulling the Plug on the Term. - KFF Health News
Authors
Markian Hawryluk, Renuka Rayasam
Published
Oct 2 2023
Word count
1540 words

2 comments

  1. patience_limited
    Link
    There have been over a thousand documented sudden deaths in the U.S. directly involving Taser use. Tasers are "less lethal" than bullet wounds, but that only calls for more scrutiny of police use...

    There have been over a thousand documented sudden deaths in the U.S. directly involving Taser use. Tasers are "less lethal" than bullet wounds, but that only calls for more scrutiny of police use of force in the first place.

    Given that the original "excited delirium" hypothesis was directly funded by Taser International, I'd say there's substantial justification to discredit it as a legitimate cause of death in these cases.

    12 votes
  2. boxer_dogs_dance
    Link

    This year, ACEP (American College of Emergency Physicians) issued a formal statement saying the group no longer recognizes the term “excited delirium” and new guidance to doctors on how to treat individuals presenting with delirium and agitation in what it now calls “hyperactive delirium syndrome.” But the group stopped short of retracting the 2009 white paper. For the past 14 years, ACEP took no steps to withdraw the document or to discourage defense attorneys from using it in court.

    Even now, lawyers say, they must continually debunk the theory.

    “Excited delirium has continued to come up in every single restraint asphyxia case that my partner and I have handled,” said Julia Sherwin, a California civil rights attorney. “Instead of acknowledging that the person died from the police tactics, they want to point to this alternate theory of deaths.”

    Now, plaintiffs’ attorneys say, if ACEP passes the resolution it would be the most meaningful step yet toward keeping the theory out of the courtroom. The resolution calls on ACEP to “clarify its position in writing that the 2009 white paper is inaccurate and outdated,” and to withdraw approval for it.

    Despite the theory’s lack of scientific underpinning, backers of the ACEP resolution expect heated debate before the vote scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 7-8. Emergency physicians often encounter patients with agitation and delirium, they say, and are sympathetic to other first responders who share the challenge of managing such patients. While they have tools like sedation to help them in the emergency room, law enforcement officials must often subdue potentially dangerous individuals without such help.

    Most people won’t die as a result of police tactics such as prone restraint or Taser use, but a small fraction do.

    10 votes