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ACEP’s Board of Directors confirmed Thursday that its 2009 white paper on excited delirium syndrome is “outdated and does not align with the College’s position based on the most recent science,” according to a statement on the organization’s website.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.

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