Photo: Courtesy of the family By the time firefighter paramedics arrived at the scene of Elijah McClain’s arrest in 2019, the 23-year-old was crying out in pain with his hands cuffed behind his back, while multiple officers held his body down on the ground. The cops had already put him in a choke hold, which restricts blood flow to the brain, while he said, “I can’t breathe … I have no gun … I don’t do any fighting.
The drug blocks the brain’s pain receptors and can knock people unconscious within minutes or put them in a dissociative, trancelike state. Those qualities are useful for treating chronic pain and depression, but it’s also become a popular recreational drug, with people snorting it to get high or lost in a “K-hole,” a state where users feel detached from reality.
Newman said that since taking on McClain’s case last summer, she’s received multiple calls involving involuntary ketamine injections during arrests. Udoibok says there isn’t a month that goes by when he isn’t contacted with a similar situation. He believes the practice is “rampant,” despite the fact that medical professionals say forcing the drug on people in these settings can be dangerous, if not deadly.
On the way to the hospital, McClain went into cardiac arrest, though it’s unclear exactly why based on the autopsy report. A few days later his family made the decision to take him off life support, after doctors declared him brain dead. Yet unlike instances involving the excessive use of tasers, Udoibok says these cases are hard to win. The police blame the paramedics, who in turn say they made an “independent decision to inject with ketamine,” because the person in custody was acting erratically. A court has yet to rule on whether or not the use of ketamine violates a person’s Fourth Amendment rights.
COScienceWriter angelinachapin NAEMT_ NYCEMSwatch NREMT EMS1 EMSWorldFans NASEMSO BreonnaTaylor ElijahMcClain NAEMSP AmerMedicalAssn Surgeon_General
jackshafer angelinachapin HEADLINE: “Black Lives” ARTICLE: Doesn't even /attempt/ to assert that, e.g., K is used disproportionately on blacks. Literally says: “There is no publicly available data on how often ketamine is used” angelinachapin Are you OK with this utterly unsupported and misleading hed?
angelinachapin Cops aren't medical professionals, & if they told paramedics to inject someone w/a drug those paramedics & cops are guilty for manslaughter. Manslaughter is a crime. There should be major investigations into this.😡 SenKamalaHarris CoryBooker
angelinachapin US must not stop protesting! Ketamine is illegal on the street but cops can administer unknown doses of a “Date rape drug” that’s hallucinogenic? cops are worse than street criminals IMO.
ellisromance angelinachapin This is a travesty all the way around of the young man. First the police brutality then administering deadly sedative also. How often do they do this? Is this underreported?
angelinachapin Where’s the peoples’ power to stop police brutality? Symbolic/performative gestures, yet no real change, no real pressure on policing in the the US
angelinachapin interesting that cops can prescribe drugs. that in their'union agreements' too? truly, 'this is a country of laws. ' and the enforcers can do any damned thing!
angelinachapin Why are the cops using this? There's so much promising research with ketamine and the cops might blow that research by abusing the drug against BIPOC. Why are they evil? Why?
angelinachapin WTF?
ketaminh
angelinachapin Ketamine is for animals and human is an animal too. So why not? Haha
angelinachapin Oh JFC... *some* black lives matter
angelinachapin The paramedic, per the video, didn't even do an exam. If they r taking drug injection orders from cops, that is serious abuse.
angelinachapin Why are the police doing that? Wasn't there a whole slew of promising research surrounding Ketamine for mental illness?
angelinachapin This is the stuff of Nazis.
angelinachapin It’s a shitty paramedic that would listen to an officer with no medical training
angelinachapin why is any officer permitted to instruct a PARAMEDIC on how to treat a person?
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