General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHandcuffed and shackled, he died after getting a shot of ketamine
?resize=640%2C497By the time the paramedics got there, Jamie Britt was on his stomach, his hands cuffed behind his back, his legs shackled. Four Mount Pleasant cops had him pinned to the ground.
Were going to ketamine him, one paramedic announced just as he arrived.
Within minutes of getting a shot of the powerful tranquilizer, Britt, 50, was effectively dead though it would be 16 long, agonizing days and nights before his wife decided to take her husband off a ventilator. He was pronounced dead at 3:28 p.m. on Oct. 16.
Watching this play out on the police videos months later is a horror show. It started with a guy with a simple flat tire and ended in tragedy. The Charleston County Coroner has ruled it a homicide, and what happened at the entrance of Snee Farm on that hot Monday evening in September should raise alarms about when and how ketamine is used to subdue suspects.
Ketamines use by paramedics has more than doubled in South Carolina since it was first authorized three years ago, and nowhere is it used more than in Charleston County.
This is wrong, Britt, handcuffed hand to foot, pleads on the tape.
-----
Twenty-seven minutes into the video, Britt is well restrained and calmer by the time the paramedics arrive. One of them, holding up a syringe, walks out of the ambulance and gives Britt a shot of ketamine. Only afterward does he ask: Mr. Britt, hey, hey. Are you allergic to anything? Do you take any medications?
Woozily, Britt says he takes Lisinopril for high blood pressure. Then he goes silent, never to speak again.
---
Across South Carolina, paramedics used ketamine almost 2,000 times in the last three years, DHEC reports. Charleston, the states third-largest county, is by far the leader: 458 people were given injections over three years, about 1 in 4 of all given in the state. Greenville, the largest county, reported 279; Richland County, the second-largest, only 17, the data show.
Its for everybodys safety, the paramedic responds. But Britts three words this is wrong were among the last he would ever speak.d-fdd0cfc34c-174354037
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/bailey-handcuffed-and-shackled-he-died-after-getting-a-shot/article_bf30b3a8-5a2c-11ea-8016-e30b4054f145.html?utm_source=The%20Marshall%20Project%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=fdd0cfc34c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_04_12_49&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e02cdad9d-fdd0cfc34c-174354037
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,806 posts)Demovictory9
(32,468 posts)blue neen
(12,327 posts)This is really frightening. Ketamine definitely can have some very severe side effects and should not be used as a tranquilizer!!!
Haggis for Breakfast
(6,831 posts)WHEN the FUCK did they start using it on people ?????
Lars39
(26,110 posts)discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,481 posts)Coventina
(27,159 posts)That's the stuff they use on species like gorillas and elephants.
This country has gone mad!!!!!!!!!
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2020, 10:03 PM - Edit history (1)
for many pain management conditions such as CRPS/RSDS, as well as others.
Every U.S. hospital uses ketamine a daily basis, even for depression.
Ketamine is standard of care in U.S. Emergency Departments for conscious sedation/short procedures. It is loved by staff because it does not suppress respiratory drive in appropriate doses.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)THAT is the criminal part. No medication should be administered without checking on previous drugs and and possible interactions.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,386 posts)some indication that county EMTs felt pressured to administer ketamine as part of a study.
Also, FTP.
JDC
(10,130 posts)This is insane