The diagnosis of “excited delirium” has been used for many decades but has now been discredited by several medical organizations.
They include the American Psychiatric Association, the AMA, and the National Association of Medical Examiners.
It is a diagnosis sometimes used to explain a suspect’s cause of death during an arrest by police when the suspect is showing extreme agitation.
Recently, California passed a law “prohibiting coroners, medical examiners, physicians, and PAs from using this diagnosis on death certificates or autopsy reports.”
Also, law enforcement are not “allowed to describe a person’s behavior in any incident report …” using this “diagnosis.”
This information comes from an article by Samatha Young in the KFF Health News on October 13, 2023.
While this “diagnosis” should not be used, it is my view that police are not necessarily at fault when a suspect dies during an arrest. For example, a suspect may die from a heart attack during an arrest.
As an illustration, people under the influence of cocaine can have a heart attack when agitated or even when they are not. A medical examiner needs to determine the cause of death when someone dies during an arrest. No assumptions should be made beforehand.
Peter M. Hartmann, MD
Family Medicine & Psychiatry
