Hawaii Lawmakers Consider Banning Excited Delirium As A Cause Of Death
The term already isn’t being used by the Medical Examiner’s Office and most doctors, officials said. But advocates want to ban it officially.
Sheldon Haleck died in 2015 after a violent altercation with Honolulu police officers, but city experts in a subsequent trial tried to blame his death on a controversial condition called “excited delirium.”
Now his parents, Verdell and William Haleck, are from being used as a valid medical diagnosis or cause of death in the state.
Many prominent medical groups have already distanced themselves from the use of excited delirium, which critics say has been used by police to justify excessive force. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office says it hasn’t used the term as a cause of death in more than a decade and most doctors also have stopped using it.
However, former Honolulu medical examiner Dr. Christopher Happy, who resigned in 2019, reported in his autopsy that of delirium. And expert witnesses testified that Haleck died of excited delirium during a trial in 2019.
William Haleck, a former police officer himself, believes his son’s case was mishandled and wants the term excited delirium to be officially eliminated.
鈥淚t would never dawn on me that the same police department that I started with and graduated from would be the same police department that would end up taking my son’s life away,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 look back at this, and I say why couldn鈥檛 there have been more deescalation.鈥
Excited delirium describes agitation, aggression, and acute distress, . It typically is associated with the use of drugs that alter dopamine processing.
鈥淲e had to kind of Google it and find out (about it), and we knew it didn鈥檛 sound believable,鈥 Verdell Haleck said. 鈥淲e knew it was excessive force, but when you鈥檙e up against the big, higher guns you have really no choice.鈥
Senate Bill 2033, introduced this year by Sen. Stanley Chang on behalf of the Halecks, would prevent law enforcement, medical examiners and health professionals from diagnosing, testifying, documenting and ruling a cause of death to be 鈥渆xcited delirium鈥 or any similar terminology such as excited delirium syndrome, hyperactive delirium, agitated delirium and exhaustive mania.
Masahiko Kobayashi, director of the Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office, said such a law would not impact his department because most doctors and other stakeholders have already stopped using the term.
鈥滱nd this office has not used the term 驶excited delirium驶 as the cause of death since I came here in 2012,” Kobayashi said in an email.
The bill has been referred to the committees on Health and Human Services, Public Safety and the Judiciary. HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu declined to comment on the bill, saying it is being reviewed by the department.
Police said Haleck was on methamphetamine while walking through traffic in March 2015. Officers used pepper spray and shot him with a Taser three times within five minutes, authorities said.
Officers continued to use pepper spray because Haleck did not seem to be affected. Haleck was also not immediately immobilized by the stun gun before he became unresponsive and stopped breathing, authorities said.
He was declared dead at a hospital the next morning.
In 2015, the Halecks sued three police officers and the City and County of Honolulu for the 鈥渘egligent use of force,鈥 claiming officials weren’t being truthful about their son’s death. The case made its way to federal court, where a jury in 2019 decided in favor of the Honolulu Police Department, concluding that excessive force was not used.
If the bill passes, Hawaii would be following a precedent set by California, which in October 2023 to ban excited delirium from being used as a valid medical diagnosis in police actions.
Colorado legislators , which is slated to face its first hearing this week.
鈥淥ur hope is since California passed the bill, and California is usually the leader when passing bills, we would like to kind of get in there and pass it as well鈥 in Hawaii, William Haleck said.
Last year, the said the term should not be used by members who testify in civil and criminal trials, and the National Association of Medical Examiners said it would not endorse the term.
There also was a 2020 study by debunking the authenticity of this term, stating that excited delirium was used more in cases involving excessive force and death with police.
In cases related to this topic, the study said there is no established correlation between excited delirium syndrome and lethality.
