Bell observed 40 such befuddling cases of unexplained sudden mania from 1836 to 1849, with 30 of them ending in death. The "exhaustive mania" spurned him to publish an October 1849 study in the American Journal of Insanity. He described the typical afflicted patient as uncomprehending and "suspicious," with dilated eyes and a "pinched-up... florid and greasy" face. "Oftentimes [the] sensation of danger will exhibit itself in the patient attacking any one who approaches him with a blind fury,'' Bell wrote. "If held, he will struggle with the utmost desperation, irrespective of the number or strength of those who may be endeavoring to restrain him... At the expiration of two or three weeks, your patient will sink in death."
Two or three WEEKS.
"Who cares about the Taser?" Dr. Mash squawks. "I don't care about the Taser, and I'll tell you why. Excited delirium was happening before the Taser. Excited delirium was happening in the 1800s, in Bell's institutionalized psych patients. ..."
Dr. Mash was wheeled out by Taser International to claim that Robert Dziekanski died of "excited delirium". This explanation was utterly rejected by the Braidwood Inquiry.
Mr. Dziekanski was dead within A MINUTE OR TWO of being tasered repeatedly.
Dr. Mash is peddling a far too convenient excuse for taser-deaths.
And her claims do not hold up to even causal scrutiny.
There's something about the axis of time (for example, weeks versus minutes) that confuses some people.
2 comments:
Not shocked: Even if there is a tiny element of truth in the theory of excited delirium, it is wrapped in exaggeration and deception. For example, Dr. Mash claims the observation goes back to "Bell's mania" in 1847, when the asylum director's report clearly stated the deaths followed in "two or three weeks." That's different from Taser deaths where the subject often reacts instantly and is often dead within minutes. Her claim that excited delirium has 150 years of history is obviously garbage and seems to reveal she's making it up as she goes. And the real origin is the other so-called Miami doctor, Charles A. Wetli, who used the theory as an excuse that allowed a serial killer to escape detection for years. Sounds familiar.
Anon
Hothead: What evidence does Dr. Deborah Mash have to support her theory about excited delirium ("The Dark Side," Gus Garcia-Roberts, July 15)? The article says, "The brain goes into hyperthermia, sizzling like bacon at temperatures of 105 degrees or higher, causing extremely sudden cardiac arrest..." Does Dr. Mash (or anyone else — coroners, emergency medical technicians) have records of brain temps of deceased persons taken at times of death? That would seem like essential evidence for the excited delirium theory, as opposed to mere anecdotes about "trashed rooms littered with ice cubes." Hypothesis is easy. Science is hard.
Steve Ellman
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-07-22/news/letters-from-the-issue-of-july-22-2010/
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