'Excited delirium' training underway for RCMP

Seems the more things change the more they stay exactly the same. In the face of several medical experts' testimony at the recent Braidwood Inquiry that "excited delirium" is a quite questionable medical condition and one which is not recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the brainwashing continues.

Read on ...

June 1, 2008
Florence Loyie, The Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON - Alberta RCMP officers are undergoing training to recognize the symptoms of "excited delirium," a controversial condition linked to the deaths of some people who have died after being zapped with a electronic stun gun.

"We are not teaching or trying to teach our members how to diagnose somebody in excited delirium, but to recognize the signs and symptoms because it is a medical emergency and these people need medical treatment," said Cpl. Clint Vair with K-Division, Alberta's RCMP headquarters.

"But before they can be treated, they need to be restrained because medical professionals in a hospital will not deal with anyone in this condition unless they are restrained."

RCMP officers who carry stun guns, or Tasers as they are known by their brand name, already receive training in excited delirium. In January, the commander of K-Division, Deputy Commissioner Rod Knecht, ordered all of the province's 2,200 Mounties to take the training, Vair said.

Excited delirium is a controversial term which has been used to explain the deaths of people in police custody, but it has no formal medical recognition nor is it recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

However, persons with excited delirium symptoms were first reported in the 1800s when it was described as "exhaustive mania" or "agitated delirium."

The condition's symptoms include paranoia, extreme agitation, hostility towards inanimate objects or people and incoherent speech.

People become hot to the touch and display super-human strength and endurance, as well as a high tolerance to pain.

It usually occurs in people who have taken drugs, alcohol or have a mental illness. It can also appear in people who are under unusual stress or are sleep-deprived.

It can lead to sudden death because the person's heart rate speeds up to compensate for the extreme stress the body is undergoing. Eventually, the person's cardio-respiratory system shuts down and they collapse.

Vair said officers are taught that individuals experiencing excited delirium are in a life-

threatening medical emergency and must be taken into custody as quickly as possible so they can be taken to hospital.

It may take multiple officers many minutes to physically restrain someone in a state of excited delirium. A stun gun or Taser can quickly incapacitate the individual so they can be handcuffed and taken for emergency care, Vair said.