Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) hosted an online panel briefing to discuss topline findings and key recommendations of its new report, “‘Excited Delirium’ and Deaths in Police Custody: The Deadly Impact of a Baseless Diagnosis,” which finds that “excited delirium” is not a valid, independent medical or psychiatric diagnosis.
Launching the new study, medical and legal experts, forensic pathologists, and family members of people whose deaths were attributed to “excited delirium” discussed the landmark report’s findings, including “excited delirium’s” baseless scientific underpinnings, its roots in anti-Black racism, and the profound harms caused by the continued use of this pseudoscientific term.
Featured panelists:
* Joye Carter, MD is a board certified forensic pathologist with over 30 years of experience who formerly served as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner of the Armed Forces, Chief Medical Examiner of the District of Columbia and of Houston, Texas.
* Joanna Naples-Mitchell, JD is an international human rights lawyer and PHR researcher focusing on human rights violations in the United States, including cases of police violence. She is a co-author of the report.
* Members of the Quinto-Collins family, including Bella Quinto-Collins, Cassandra Quinto-Collins, and Robert Collins, founders of the Justice for Angelo Quinto! Justice for All! Coalition.
* Altaf Saadi, MD is a general academic neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and instructor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. She is a co-author of the report. The panel was moderated by Sabah Muhammad, legislative and policy counsel with Treatment Advocacy Center.
