A leading group of medical experts says the term “excited delirium” should not be listed as a cause of death.
The National Association of Medical Examiners had been one of the last to take a stand against the commonly used but controversial term. In a statementMarch 23, the association said “excited delirium” or “excited delirium syndrome” should not be used as a cause of death. The statement has no legal weight, but will be influential among medical examiners.
Critics have called the terms unscientific, rooted in racism — and a way to hide police officers' culpability in deaths. The American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association do not recognize excited delirium as a diagnosis. Yet some police training materials have described it as a potentially fatal collection of symptoms including elevated temperature, unexpected strength, hallucinations and extreme agitation.
“Excited delirium is often used when there’s a death associated with a physical altercation between a citizen and law enforcement," said Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who chairs the pathology department at Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he served as chief medical examiner from 2014 to 2021. “It’s not a real explanation for the death."
Medical examiners have ruled that excited delirium caused or contributed to police-related deaths including the