Staff reviewed
DEATHS IN CUSTODY: PHYSICAL RESTRAINT, EXCITED DELIRIUM AND MEDICO-LEGAL INVESTIGATION - A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.
— STAFF
Both of the assertions that dominate restraint-death litigation are directly undercut: an expert attributing a custodial death to "excited delirium" must now defend a construct the review characterises as lacking validated criteria, and an expert citing volunteer prone-restraint experiments to negate asphyxial or acidotic mechanisms must now answer the objection that those designs do not model the custodial situation. For anyone certifying cause of death, testifying in a custody-death case, or advising on restraint policy in a forensic or correctional setting, the defensible position on the record has moved.