1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

“Excited delirium” is not a recognized medical diagnosis. Every major medical authority in the United States—including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Association of Medical Examiners—has rejected it as scientifically invalid. Despite this consensus, the term continues to appear in cases involving deaths during police restraint, particularly following Tasers, chokeholds, or prone positioning. Legal and medical scholarship has shown that the term originates from unsupported and racially biased theories and is disproportionately applied to people of color. Reporting and analysis by outlets such as the Harvard Law Review and The Marshall Project demonstrate that “excited delirium” frequently surfaces at the point when institutional accountability should begin, reframing state violence as biological failure rather than scrutinizing the use of force. The continued use of this term undermines the integrity of death investigations, erodes public trust, and creates a barrier to accountability by relying on discredited pseudoscience. A diagnosis rejected by medicine should not be used to resolve legal questions of life and death.