The Following is an portion of the article written by By: Erik Pindera
By: Erik Pindera Posted: 2:42 PM CDT Monday, May. 20, 2024
Months after defending excited delirium as an acceptable cause of death, Manitoba’s chief medical examiner has appeared to distance himself from the term and vowed not to use it in autopsies again.
Dr. John Younes recently made the comments during a provincial inquest examining the death of Viengxay Chommany, a 42-year-old man who died following an altercation with Winnipeg police in August 2019. The inquest, in front of provincial court Judge Lindy Choy, resumes sitting in June.
During questioning in April by the Chommany family’s lawyer, Kris Saxberg, about the autopsy and cause of death, Younes said the term “excited delirium” would no longer be used in Manitoba autopsies and that his office will not use it as a cause or contributing factor of death in the future.
“The word has become controversial enough that it’s best just avoided,” Younes said April 22, when asked whether the use of the term in autopsies is “dead.”
The syndrome known as excited delirium is said to cause a wide array of symptoms: from an inability to feel pain, to superhuman strength and excessive sweating, to an aversion to shiny objects and talking in gibberish.
Younes said someone exhibiting those symptoms — while there’s no universally accepted term — would now be referred to as being in a state of agitation or psychosis.
Police were called to an Elmwood home on Aug. 2, 2019, after Chommany’s wife called police and said he was off his medications and acting strangely. Chommany lived with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. After officers confronted Chommany at the home, he ran off, shoeless, with officers in pursuit. He was Tasered once, then pulled to the ground where, according to an Independent investigation Unit report, the 5-4, 180- pound man was struggling, kicking and grabbing at them.
One officer said he punched or kneed Chommany, a second officer said he punched Chommany in the face roughly five times, then Tasered him before applying handcuffs. A third officer shackled Chommany’s legs. A Manitoba pathologist later determined Chommany died from complications of anoxic brain injury due to probable arrhythmia due to “excited delirium.”
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