Emergency medical personnel administer ketamine when they believe it’s necessary, police say. But there’s growing concern over whether officers are too involved in the decision and conflicting medical opinions on using it during arrests.

Police as anesthesiologist. They don’t need no stinkin’ medical training.

What could go wrong?

https://erietimes-pa-app.newsmemory.com/?publink=0f1571cd2

DENVER — Police stopped Elijah McClain on the street in suburban Denver last year after deeming the young Black man suspicious. He was thrown into a chokehold, threatened with a dog and stun gun, then subjected to another law enforcement tool before he died: a drug called ketamine.

Paramedics inject it into people like McClain as a sedative, often at the behest of police who believe suspects are out of control. Officially, ketamine is used in emergencies when there’s a safety concern for medical staff or the patient. But it’s increasingly found in arrests and has become another flashpoint in the debate over law enforcement policies and brutality against people of color.

An analysis by The Associated Press of policies on ketamine and cases where the drug was used during police encounters uncovered a lack of police training, conflicting medical standards and nonexistent protocols that have resulted in hospitalizations and even deaths.

On Monday, it will have been a year since McClain, 23, was stopped by officers responding to a 911 call about a suspicious person wearing a ski mask and waving his arms. Police put him in a chokehold twice and multiple officers pressed their body weight into him.

He suffered cardiac arrest, was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.

“The case where somebody’s got six officers on them, in a chokehold, and needs ketamine is really pretty exceptional. That just doesn’t happen very often,” said Dr. George Lindbeck, chairman of the National Association of State EMS Officials medical director’s council. “The vast majority of these scenarios get managed at a much lower level with much less physical restraint, no need for chemical restraint or sedation.”

After McClain’s death, Colorado’s health department opened an investigation into the growing use of ketamine, first approved for use in 2013, after the case got new attention during nationwide protests seeking police reform.

There are no federal standards for law enforcement or emergency medical personnel on the drug’s use. State policies and reporting requirements vary, so it’s not clear how regularly it’s used during police encounters and why.

Most states and agencies say ketamine may be administered when someone exhibits “excited delirium” or agitation, which is typically associated with chronic drug abuse, mental illness or both. The drug sedates them, is supposed to have limited side effects and isn’t intended to make someone lose consciousness.

Medical professionals say excited delirium is a “wastebasket term” and has no standard definition. The commonly cited characteristics include superhuman strength, imperviousness to pain and wild, uncontrollable behavior, said Dr. Paul S. Appelbaum, director of the Division of Law, Ethics & Psychiatry at Columbia University.

“It’s not at all clear that these people are delirious. Moreover, it seems pretty clear that they’re not all one thing, that this term tends to be applied out in the field by police who are certainly not expert in diagnosis of neuropsychiatric syndromes,” he said.

Police are not trained on diagnosing any medical conditions, but most know first aid and CPR. Every police agency has different criteria for calling in paramedics, according to Jimmy Holderfield, secretary for the National Fraternal Order of Police.

“The best rule of thumb to apply here is what a ‘prudent and reasonable’ person would do,” Holderfield said by email. “Officers are charged with the duty of protecting lives and property.”

Emergency medical personnel administer ketamine when they believe it’s necessary, police say. But there’s growing concern over whether officers are too involved in the decision and conflicting medical opinions on using it during arrests.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists opposes it and other sedatives for law enforcement purposes, saying, “These effects can end in death when administered in a non-health care setting without appropriately trained medical personnel and necessary equipment.”

Those in favor of ketamine cite its fastacting and short-lived effects as well as scientific reports that it doesn’t cause severe respiratory problems compared with other sedatives.

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