An Associated Press-led investigation revealed that at least 17 people in Florida passed away during a ten-year period after being physically accosted by police and having a strong sedative administered into them by medical workers.
Orlando was the scene of three of the deadly attacks. There were more reports from Tallahassee, Tampa, and West Palm Beach, among other places in the state. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue personnel gave narcotics in two occasions.
These deaths were among the more than 1,000 that the Associated Press’s investigation revealed occurred across the country of people who lost their lives as a result of police using physical force or non-lethal weapons like Tasers, which are similar to sedatives.
According to medical professionals, over half of the deaths were either caused by or involved police force.
These were just a few of the over a thousand deaths that the Associated Press’s investigation revealed occurred across the country as a result of police using physical force or non-lethal weapons like Tasers instead of firearms. About half of all deaths, according to medical professionals, were either caused by or involved police force.
The investigation’s 2012–2021 timeframe allowed reporters to find 94 sedation-related deaths nationwide, but it was hard to identify how many of those deaths may have been related to injections.
Few of the deaths were linked to the sedative, and investigations into whether injections were appropriate were infrequent; instead, the focus was more frequently on other medications that individuals had in their systems and police use of force.
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The injections are intended to calm individuals who are aggressive, frequently as a result of drug use or a psychotic episode, so they can be taken to the hospital.
Sedatives, according to proponents, allow for quick treatment while shielding first responders from harm. Critics contend that it can be too dangerous to hand out the drugs during police interactions if they are given without consent.
According to the inquiry, Florida’s medical authorities were instrumental in pushing for the use of sedatives in an effort to lessen the frequency of violent police encounters.
Furthermore, a grand jury in Miami-Dade County that looked into the deaths of those shocked by Tasers in 2006 advised putting the sedative midazolam, also marketed under the name Versed, up their noses.
This approach was quickly taken up by Miami-Dade paramedics, in spite of worries that the medication would induce respiratory depression. Later, other Florida emergency medical services organizations adopted the sedative ketamine early as well.
In the Florida cases, ketamine, midazolam, and ziprasidone, an antipsychotic drug, were among the sedatives used.
According to research, there are more risks associated with sedation during behavioral emergencies than with any one medicine, according to Eric Jaeger, a New Hampshire emergency medical services educator who has studied the matter and is an advocate for more safety precautions and training.
The medications were frequently used to treat “excited delirium,” a tumultuous disorder associated with drug abuse or mental illness that has been denied by medical associations in recent years. The contentious syndrome originated in Miami during the 1980s.
