Family Files Lawsuit After Mother Dies Of Ketamine Injection

Ketamine is a powerful sedative and horse tranquilizer that is used in club settings as a recreational drug. Its use in non-hospital settings has been criticized by medical professionals after the deaths of two individuals. Now, a family is suing the ambulance company and paramedics who delivered the fatal dose of the drug after their loved one passed away. One thing that recreational users of the drug ketamine appear to know that the paramedics did not is that you never—ever—mix the drug with alcohol. In fact, the combination is used as a “knock-out” drug for the purposes of date rape. So an EMT delivering ketamine to a drunk woman who was lying on the ground crying is a medical error.

The woman was found in distress on the ground crying when an EMT delivered the fatal dose of ketamine despite the objections of another paramedic. The woman stopped breathing.

Ketamine is often administered to individuals who are psychotic or perceived as a threat to health care workers or law enforcement. However, there are many drugs out there that provide the same sort of reaction and they would not necessarily cause respiratory arrest in an individual who is drunk. You might as well be giving them heroin for all the good it will do them. There seems to be no sense in using ketamine for this purpose other than the fact that in high enough doses, it will completely immobilize someone.

Excited delirium 

In order to administer a drug like ketamine, first responders must claim that the individual is in a state of excited delirium. One problem: There appears to be no such thing as excited delirium—at least in medical terms. A group of physicians recently received a paper concerning “excited delirium” and its usage by medical professionals in clinical settings. The group believes that the concept of “excited delirium” has no basis in medical fact. This is a problem because first responders can use a “diagnosis” of excited delirium as the basis for administering potentially fatal doses of drugs. “Excited delirium” was the basis of the George Floyd arrest and the Rodney King beating. The medical community believes that there is a problematic intersection between medical services and legal realities that is resulting in the deaths of citizens.

What are the symptoms of excited delirium? 

If you are not complying with police then you may have “excited delirium”. If you are not complying with police, police may assume that you have “superhuman strength” due to “excited delirium”. In other words, if you are not complying with the police, they will assume that you’re a superhuman threat. Thus why physicians across the country are up in arms over the use of “excited delirium” in any sort of medical context when it is simply being used to justify the use of force.

Talk to a Miami Personal Injury Lawyer Today 

The office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. represents the interests of Miami residents who have been injured by negligence. Call our Miami personal injury lawyers today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.

Sources:

cnn.com/2022/03/12/us/excited-delirium-police-deaths-study/index.html

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-mom-5-died-ketamine-injection-paramedic-files-wrongful-death-la-rcna55509