“Excited Delirium” One Step Closer to Vanishing

Last month, House Representatives Leslie Herod (Dem, District 8) and Judy Amabile (Dem, District 49) presented a bill which would remove the pseudoscientific term “excited delirium” from first responder training exercises.

House Bill HB24-1103 “prohibits training for law enforcement personnel, emergency medical service providers, or other first responders from including the term ‘excited delirium.'” The bill also prevents the term from being used in police incident reports, or listed as a cause of death. An exception can be made in specific cases in which the history of the term is being taught.

“Excited delirium” is widely rejected by the medical community as a bogus diagnosis, and supposedly is marked by extreme agitation and delirium to an even fatal degree. The term was used in 19th and early-20th centuries to refer to symptoms of drug overdose and poisoning, as well as “sexual excitement.” However, it was never added to the DSM, and in the early 2000’s, people began to notice the term being disproportionately used in reference to Black victims of police brutality. In 2003, the NAACP published findings that demonstrated “excited delirium” being used far more in reference to racial minorities, and called it out as a scapegoat for police abuse. A 2017 Reuters report also found a possible link between patients being diagnosed with delirium, and police use of tasers.

However, despite a considerable history of controversy, the term is still frequently used by law enforcement and coroners. Back in 2017, Alejandro Gutierrez was restrained face down by several Thornton police officers with their bodycams turned off. According to reports, he shouted “I can’t breathe!” several times before his heart stopped; while many suspected police brutality, Gutierrez’s coroner’s report simply described his cause of death as “excited delirium.” According to 9NEWS, the term has been linked to over 225 deaths across the United States since 2010.

Thankfully, it seems like the outdated term will finally be sunset. Colorado’s House Judiciary Committee voted 8-3 to pass HB24-1103 on February 6, making sure that law enforcement would no longer be allowed to use the “excited delirium” as a coverup. Rep. Herod said of the event, “This term has historically led to maltreatment and the murder of Black and Brown people, including Elijah McClain in 2019 at the hands of law enforcement and emergency responders. It is vitally important that it is taken out of use, and erased as a training practice. By prohibiting the term, police and EMTs will be held accountable for how they treat individuals when they are in their care. For far too long, ‘Excited Delirium,’ has been used as an excuse to use excessive and deadly force against members of our community.”

Hopefully this is just the first step towards full elimination of the term across all use cases.

Photo courtesy of Leslie Herod