Emergency medical association rejects ‘excited delirium’ - USA
source: CNN News
published: 12 October 2023
Image Credit: Kelly Lacy at www.Pexels.com
An emergency physicians group is disavowing “excited delirium,” a controversial term that some police officers, clinicians, medical examiners and court experts have used to explain how an agitated person could die in custody through no fault of any force used to subdue them.
Dr. Michele Heisler, medical director for Physicians for Human Rights, says that the American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) move will take excited delirium off the table in court cases. “This is the final professional medical or psychological or psychiatric association to repudiate the term,” she said.
Excited delirium has been described by other medical associations as “associated with racism” and disproportionately used in the deaths of Black people. It was cited in one of the most high-profile cases of recent years: the death of George Floyd in 2020.
ACEP’s Board of Directors confirmed Thursday that its 2009 white paper on excited delirium syndrome is “outdated and does not align with the College’s position based on the most recent science,” according to a statement on the organization’s website.
“The term excited delirium should not be used among the wider medical and public health community, law enforcement organizations, and ACEP members acting as expert witnesses testifying in relevant civil or criminal litigation,” the statement says.
This decision officially withdraws the board’s approval of the paper.
Other Related News:
End the use of “excited delirium” as a cause of death in police custody
12 March 2022
Excited delirium: valid clinical diagnosis or medicalized racism?
6 April 2021
Forensic Science Regulator: The use of ‘excited delirium’ as a cause of death (PDF file)
Published in 2020
How “excited delirium” is misused to justify police brutality
10 August 2020
Excited delirium: Medical emergency – not willful resistance
10 July 2015
share this article on social media
