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Reuters

Sudden death after arrest may be new syndrome

Tue Sep 2, 2008 3:39pm EDT
By Ben Hirschler

MUNICH (Reuters) - Young men who die suddenly after being arrested by the police may be victims of a new syndrome similar to one that kills some wild animals when they are captured, Spanish researchers said on Tuesday.

Manuel Martinez Selles of Madrid's Hospital Gregorio Maranon reached the conclusion after investigating 60 cases of sudden unexplained deaths in Spain following police detention.

In one third of the cases, death occurred at the point of arrest, while in the remainder death was within 24 hours, Selles told the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

All but one of the casualties were male and their average age was just 33 years, with no previous history of cardiovascular disease.

"Something unusual is going on," Sells said.

Just why they died remains a mystery but he believes young men, in particular, may experience surges in blood levels of chemicals known as catecholamines when under severe stress.

Adrenaline is one of the most abundant catecholamines.

"We know that when a wild animal is captured, sometimes the animal dies suddenly," he said.

"Probably when these young males are captured it is very stressful and their level of catecholamines goes very high and that can finish their life by ventricular fibrillation (cardiac arrest)."

Selles compiled his study -- the first of its kind in any country -- by scouring Spanish newspapers for cases of unexplained death after police detention over the past 10 years.

Only sudden deaths with no clear causes were included and autopsy reports were checked to exclude the possibility of mistreatment or past serious medical conditions.

Twelve of the victims were drug users but Selles said this was not thought to have contributed to their deaths.

Jonathan Halperin of the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who was not involved in the research, said the concept of a heart stress syndrome triggered by a flood of adrenaline or other chemicals was "a reasonable hypothesis".

"We all know stress is bad for you and this may be stress in the extreme," he said.

i thought it was a different syndrome--The Repeatedly Beaten Over the Head by Cops Syndrome.

Hmm. Brings a whole new level of meaning to the term, "arrested development". Makes me hope certain prominent politicos get arrested.

HAPPENS ALL THE TIME



^^Another victim of the perplexing "catecholamine" syndrome....the world sure is a mysterious place.

waugs wrote:i thought it was a different syndrome--The Repeatedly Beaten Over the Head by Cops Syndrome.

Yeah that one, and also the....

Nonstop 20 Minute Tazer Ride Of Fun is sure to be an adrenalin boost, and according to police its safe and healthy for the entire family.

Holy crap. Is this for real?

Only sudden deaths with no clear causes were included and autopsy reports were checked to exclude the possibility of mistreatment or past serious medical conditions.

Exactly what kind of evidence, discoverable in an autopsy, would be left by repeated tazering? I don't like the sound of this one bit...

^^You don't even have to go that far -- just ask yourself who writes the autopsy and police reports? Why believe their documentation when it's about a prisoner who died in their custody?

^^True enough. Just wondering what kind of evidence you would need to challenge a "diagnosis" of this sort.

perhaps unrelated but:

sudden unexpected death syndrome

Sudden unexpected death syndrome (SUDS) or Sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome (SUNDS) is sudden unexpected death of adolescents and adults during sleep. While experiencing this, the person is aware that he is dreaming but feels like there is something that stops him from moving and awaking.
Sudden unexplained death syndrome was first noted in 1977 among Hmong refugees in the US.

Causes

SUDS has been cloaked in superstition. In Thailand it is particularly believed to be linked to eating rice cakes. Filipinos believe ingesting high levels of carbohydrates just before sleeping causes bangungot.

It has only been recently that the scientific world has begun to understand this syndrome. Victims of bangungot have not been found to have any organic heart diseases or structural heart problems.

However, cardiac activity during SUDS episodes indicates irregular heart rhythms and ventricular fibrillation. The victim survives this episode if the heart's rhythm goes back to normal. Older folks in the Philippines recommend trying wiggling the big toe while experiencing this to snap back.

Treatment

The only proven way to prevent death is by implantation of a cardiovertor defibrillator. Oral antiarrhythmics such as propranolol are ineffective.

Folk beliefs

This phenomenon is well known among the Hmong people of Laos, who ascribe these deaths to a malign spirit, dab tsog (pronounced "da cho"), said to take the form of a jealous woman. Hmong men may even go to sleep dressed as women so as to avoid the attentions of this spirit.

Every Filipino family knows someone who has been killed by the "bangungot." In Filipino folklore, bangungot is personified as a fat man who creeps into the bedroom of sleeping men and sits on their faces to suffocate them.

Bangungot is also depicted in the Philippines as a mythological creature called batibat. This hag-like creature sits on the victim's face so as to immobilize and suffocate him.

A few excerpts from the Wikipedia entry for Tazer:

The American Civil Liberties Union alleges that, since 1999, at least 148 people have died in the United States and Canada after being shocked with Tasers by police officers. Police departments counter that while Tasers were used to subdue these individuals, their in-custody deaths were un-related to their encounter, and could have likely been caused by more traditional police impact weapons (like batons).

Seems a bizarre way to defend against accusations of brutality...

A study led by William Bozeman, of the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, of nearly 1,000 persons subjected to Taser use, concluded that 99.7% of the subjects had either minor injuries, such as scrapes and bruises, or none at all; while three persons suffered injuries severe enough to need hospital admission, and two other subjects died. Their autopsy reports indicated neither death was related to the use of a Taser.

Guess that sort of answers my question above.


This was tacked on at the end of the article on Tazers:

Taser and its supporters in the police community regularly attribute the cause of deaths that follow Tasering to "excited delirium", a phenomenon in which agitated or disturbed individuals being apprehended by police respond in an irrational, bizarre and hyperactive manner. Critics argue that as this alleged condition only exists in relationship to being apprehended by police, its existence is dubious. Grame Norton, director of the public safety project of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association argues that "Anytime you see a specific condition being referenced in only one context it raises serious question." Other critics assert that the term is used to mask police brutality. While the term "excited delirium" has been accepted by the National Association of Medical Examiners in the United States it has been rejected by the American Medical Association while the Canadian Medical Association Journal dismisses it as a "pop culture phenomenon". The condition is not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Police psychologist Mike Webster testified at a British Columbia inquiry into Taser deaths that police have been "brainwashed" by Taser International to justify "ridiculously inappropriate" use of the electronic weapon. He called "excited delirium" a "dubious disorder" used by Taser International in its training of police.

SIDS = Sudden Inquisition Death Syndrome

Whew.

And here I was all set to remember on November 22 the mysterious death of Nancy J. Mooney in the Dallas jail two hours after her arrest shortly after Dealey Plaza.

Silly me. I thought it had something to do with her role as a witness in that shooting of the president thing and all the people killed afterwards in some kind of cover-up.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/JFK/ToA/ToAchp10.html

^^Hugh, do you think you might be more focused on JFK than they are?

.

Are editors extinct?

How does bullshit this close to satire get published?!

Wombaticus Rex wrote:^^Hugh, do you think you might be more focused on JFK than they are?

No.

That was the 9/11 before 9/11 and still is.

The effort to dilute all the sematic debris from Dealey Plaza is an ongoing effort ramped up even more now that it can lead to 9/11.

Checking my calender...