Beyond Tasers: Tranquilizers for Police use?
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Posted to Legal on Thu Jul 17, 2008 at 06:26:08 AM EST (promoted by port1080). RSS.
A little known protocol used by the Nashville, TN police department is alarming some physicians, mental health groups and civil libertarians. A news investigation revealed that for about two years area police officers have had the choice to call for needles loaded with one a powerful sedative to control unruly individuals they encounter.
Midazolam (commonly known as Versed) is a powerful sedative and hypnotic commonly used during colonoscopies and other invasive medical procedures. These are usually performed in hospitals by physicians and other qualified medical professionals. However, for about two years police in Nashville have been able to request that violent or unruly people they encounter be forcibly given injections in order to control them.
One of the first uses of the protocol was on a psychiatric patient, Mr. Dameon Beasley. Mr. Beasley admits he was off his medication when he was on a bridge running into traffic with knives. The police arrived and he charged them repeatedly. He remembers being tased without effect. Finally police called for emergency medical personnel and then in Mr. Beasley's own words:
"I remember they were holding me down. There was maybe four or five on each side, and I remember they were calling for something, you know. Some guy came up on the left side and hit me with it. I do know that whatever it was works immediately. I mean, you ain't got a chance if you are 300 pounds. It's like a horse tranquilizer. I don't care. You're gone. It's a wrap," he said.He states he doesn't remember what happened, but woke up to a police Sargent asking him to sign a piece of paper. He signed, then went back under. Mr. Beasley stated he then woke up in a secured psychiatric facility.
This alarms some medical personnel and members of the civil liberties community. One opponent, from the ACLU, Ms. Weinberg, objects to forced drugging of prisoners.
I've talked to my colleagues around the country, and none of the people from the south to the north to the east to the west have ever heard about this kind of program, this kind of use where they basically force an injection upon an individual knowing nothing about his or her medical condition.
Dr. Steven Miles, a bioethicist, says the choice of drug is the best one in these types of cases because it prevents those treated from remembering what happened.
The drug has an amnesia effect, and we use that therapeutically because one of the nice ways to take care of the discomfort is to make people forget that they've had it.However he goes on to disagree with its use in these cases.
"There is no research guideline. There is no validated protocol for this. There's not even a clear set of indications for when this is to be used except when people are agitated. By saying that it's done by the emergency medical personnel, they basically are trying to have it both ways. That is, they're trying to use a medical protocol that is not validated, not for a police function, arrest and detention."
Nashville's emergency medical director, Dr. Slovis, and coroner, Dr. Levy disagree. They state it is used as a medical treatment and police are simply not allowed to drug random people. Furthermore, they argue that the policy has been carefully considered before approval. It has been endorsed by a group of Nashville medical experts who go by "The Eagles" of which Slovis and Levy are members.
Slovis said this is common around the country and that police officers were trained in when it is a good idea to call paramedics to administer the drug. "It's something that in the medical community and in the EMS medical community is very common. It's a given. When I surveyed the major metropolitan areas around the country, I think only two cities were not actively using it.... I don't know if I would use the word diagnosing, but they are assessing the situation and saying, 'This person is not acting rationally. This is something I've been trained to recognize, this seems like excited delirium.' I don't view delirium in the field as a police function. It is a medical emergency. We're giving the drug Versed that's routinely used in thousands of health care settings across the country in the field by trained paramedics. I view what we're doing as the best possible medical practice to a medical emergency."
Mr. Beasley and his public defender disagree, pointing out that all other concerns aside, the amnesia makes it almost impossible for the defendant to participate in his own defense. His attorney is even more concerned by postings on internet police and paramedic message boards which seem to indicate the amnesia helps patients forget how they got that footprint on their chest or other abuse at the hands of law enforcement or medical staff.
Police officials refuse to say exactly who the other people drugged were, but state that 8 of 9 people injected with Versed on the street showed "improvement."
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