(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



California bans "excited delirium" as a cause of death, a blow against coverups of police abuse [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-17  

California has banned the pseudoscientific diagnosis of "excited delirium" as a cause of death on death certificates. The term, not accepted as valid by the DSM, The American Psychiatric Association, the WHO, the National Association of Medical Examiners, and a host of other professional organizations, has nonetheless been used by coroners across the country to retroactively diagnose someone who died due to abuse by police while in their custody, whether during or after an arrest. Notably, hundreds of homicides by Tasers have had “excited delirium” as a contributing or primary factor in the cause of death.

The actual symptoms of “excited delirium” are a bit murky, as one would expect for a fake diagnosis, but they typically include extreme aggression, hyperthermia and — get this — greatly enhanced strength. It becomes obvious how aggression plus strength becomes a retroactive justification for lethal use of restraint or tasers by police against someone in their custody, and it also plays directly into racial stereotypes of Black men, both reflecting and promoting racial bias with deadly consequences.

The defenses of the murderers of both George Floyd and Elijah McClain claimed “excited delirium” and reported their victims’ reckless strength and aggression. In 2020, The policemen who murdered Daniel Prude in Rochester, NY were never charged because “excited delirium” was listed on the death certificate. In Florida, a 2019 investigation found that literally every single case of “excited delirium” where massive stimulants like cocaine or meth were not involved were deaths in police custody.

Physicians for Human Rights has come out with a statement against this diagnosis and its use to cover up police homicides. A few days ago, the American College of Emergency Physicians withdrew its support for its own 2009 report legitimizing the condition. Other groups, including the National Association of Medical Examiners, have rejected the term this year. It’s becoming a consensus across the medical community that the term is not legitimate and are rejecting it as a diagnosis.

Yet it’s likely that police organizations across the country will continue to use the fake diagnosis as a retroactive justification for murdering someone — and thanks to the racial stereotypes of “aggression” and “enhanced strength”, that someone will disproportionately be a Black man — in their custody.

The takeaway from the delegitimization of the diagnosis of “excited delirium” that we should remember is that any time — any time — we see this come up in relation to a death in police custody, is that someone is covering up a murder at police hands.

One final note, both as a curio and of personal interest: People of an age to have watched Sesame Street in the 70s and 80s may recall the character of “David”, played by actor Northern Calloway for 18 years. He died in 1990 while in custody in a mental hospital. The cause of death was “exhaustive psychosis” — later known as “excited delirium.” So this type of coverup has been going on for a long time.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/17/2199924/-California-bans-excited-delirium-as-a-cause-of-death-a-blow-against-coverups-of-police-abuse?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/