“Excited Delirium” should be banned from use in official reports nationwide.
This is a huge step towards creating a more safe and equitable society for all. This being allowed in official reporting has too long been an enabler of police brutality and systemic racism.
Here is what I mean:
- Paramedics diagnosed ELIJAH MCCLAIN with it before injecting him with ketamine. He of course died days later.
- Chauvins defense team in the trail of the murder of, GEORGE FLOYD, used it as a large part of the basis for their legal argument.
- It was listed as one of the causes of death in DANIEL PRUDE.
- A forensic pathologist testified ANGELO QUINTO died from “excited delirium syndrome.”
- An examiner said the official cause of death was “excited delirium” after PATRICK BURNS died, though the death certificate was later amended.
- Many more examples can be found
Banning this term from official reporting will make it so law enforcement do not have this fake diagnosis as legal backing. I am *hoping* it would be a step in the right direction on truly changing how the police interact with the public.
But, what exactly does this term mean? Where does it come from?
There is not a consistent definition of the term but it is general described as someone acting erratic, agitated, and with unusual amounts of strength.
Campaign Zero and Physicians for Humans Rights have partnered up to create the organization “End Excited Delirium.” On their website is a breakdown on the history of the term:
It has a racist origin story, it has had deadly real world consequences, do I keep going…?
In 1985, Drs. Charles Wetli and David Fishbain published a study of the sudden deaths of seven recreational cocaine users from purported ’excited delirium.’ All seven had been restrained, in most cases by law enforcement.
In 1988, Dr. Wetli extended his theory of sudden death from small amounts of cocaine to 17 Black women in Miami who were found dead in the same neighborhood. He told a newspaper, ‘For some reason the male of the species becomes psychotic and the female of the species dies in relation to sex.’
In 1989, Wetli’s supervisor reviewed the case files and found that all the women had actually been murdered. Investigators eventually found a serial killer responsible for the murders of as many as 32 women.
In 1990, Wetli doubled down on his racialized theories of ‘excited delirium,’ telling a magazine, ‘Seventy percent of people dying of coke-induced delirium are black males, even though most users are white. Why? It may be genetic.’
Jeesh… sounds like a lot of racial bias and pseudoscience. And the potential for real world consequences.
What do the experts say?
In 2021, Virginia Law Review analyzed 166 cases where someone died in police custody and it was attributed to “excited delirium” and they found some things that were really disturbing…
43.3% of deaths were of Black people
56% of deaths were of Black or Latinx people
After I found out the grim history of the term I was like wait a minute… What do the experts have to say about this as of lately? What do agencies that issue medical guidelines think about it? Here is what I found:
- American Medical Association (AMA):
“Current evidence does not support ‘excited delirium’ as an official diagnosis.” - American Psychiatric Association (APA):
“APA has not recognized excited delirium as a mental disorder.” - American Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM):
“Current emergency medicine literature does not support scientific evidence for ‘excited delirium’ or ‘excited delirium syndrome’ being applied as a medical diagnosis.” - American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP):
“ACEP does not recognize the use of the term “excited delirium” and its use in clinical settings.”
- American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT):
“ACMT joins other organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Emergency Medicine, American Medical Association, UK Royal College of Emergency Medicine, UK Forensic Science Regulator and Royal College of Psychiatrists, and the UK Royal College of Pathologists who have all called to abandon the term “excited delirium” as a diagnosis and a cause of death.” - National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME):
“Although the terms “Excited Delirium” or “Excited Delirium Syndrome” have been used by forensic pathologists as a cause of death in the past, these terms are not endorsed by NAME or recognized in renewed classifications of the WHO, ICD-10, and DSM-V.” - College of American Pathologists (CAP):
“‘Excited delirium’ is not a medical diagnosis and should no longer be used as a cause of death.”
Now we know the racist background and the fact that it seems no major medical organization recognizes it as a legitimate thing. States and the federal government should be lining up to abolish the term right? Well, they haven’t. California is currently the only state that has banned it. However, Colorado could be on the way to being the second.
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