The Untold Story: Travon Unravels the Racist Roots of Excited Delirium

October 25, 2022·53 min·2 clips

Taser distributed a book on excited delirium to every forensic pathologist in the country.

1. Still My Baby presents The Untold Story episode about the disputed use of excited delirium after deaths in police custody. 2. Trayvon Free hosts interviews with Richard Burns, Joanna Naples Mitchell, Brooks Walsh, Osagie Obasagi, and Joy Carter, whose experiences address family investigation, law, emergency medicine, racial history, and forensic pathology. 3. The episode asks how Taser, doctors, and self-described experts helped move excited delirium into police departments, medical practice, and courtrooms. 4. Thomas Lane mentioned excited delirium while Derek Chauvin restrained George Floyd face down in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020. 5. The episode connects the term to cases involving Daniel Prude, Elijah McClain, and Emmanuel Ellis. 6. A Maryland study from 2017 reportedly found excited delirium referenced in 11% of deaths in police custody. 7. Richard Burns says his brother Pat was tased 21 times, hogtied, placed face down, and removed from life support four days later. 8. An independent autopsy found Pat's cocaine level too low to cause death and documented injuries from restraints and Taser use. 9. Joanna Naples Mitchell describes excited delirium as a pseudoscientific concept originating in forensic pathology literature during the 1980s. 10. Brooks Walsh explains that delirium is a symptom requiring clinicians to identify an underlying infection, stroke, low oxygen level, medication effect, or drug exposure. 11. A literature review cited in the episode found that 90% of excited-delirium deaths were associated with restraint. 12. Osagie Obasagi's study of 166 deaths attributed to excited delirium found that about 43% of the victims were Black, compared with around 12% of the U.S. population. 13. A 2016 study reported that one-third of surveyed white medical students and residents believed Black people literally had thicker skin. 14. Joy Carter describes historical medical language portraying Black people as dangerous, unusually resistant to pain, or physically different. 15. Carter says Dr. Davis reviewed more than 20 excited-delirium cases in Miami and reclassified them as homicides committed by one serial killer. 16. Carter recalls Taser sending letters to forensic pathologists after deaths involving repeated Taser use and arguing that excited delirium, rather than Taser use, explained the deaths. 17. The episode uses narration, archival-style excerpts, family testimony, and expert interviews in an investigative format. 18. Trayvon Free balances Richard Burns's personal account with explanations from physicians, a human-rights lawyer, a law professor, and a forensic pathologist. 19. Listeners interested in police accountability, forensic medicine, and racial bias. 20. Listeners seeking light entertainment or a fictional crime story.

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