What about stun guns and excited delirium?!

What about stun guns and excited delirium?

In a seven-month-old pilot project, Miami police have been using sedatives and cooling solutions to prevent the deaths that sometimes occur in people who have been shot by electric stun guns, also known as Tasers. According to a story in USA Today, the police say that the sedatives and salves – which, they report, may have saved at least a dozen lives so far – are not needed to treat people for the effects of the stun gun but for the reason that the police had employed the stun gun: a controversial condition that has been described as “excited delirium.” Excited delirium is characterized by extremely high body temperatures and other life-threatening symptoms, often as a result of the use of cocaine or other street drugs. The condition is considered controversial since professional medical associations do not recognize the diagnosis and since nearly all reported cases involve people in conflicts with police.

2 weeks ago
http://wap.usatoday.com/detail.jsp?key=6...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story...

I'm not sure what journal reported that "professional medical associations do not recognize the diagnosis" of excited delerium. Having worked in the Emergency Department for several years I have treated patients with this syndrome who have injested ecstasy and one who was high on crack cocaine and had been tazed by the police. We treat with cooling blankets and sedatives. The only alternative to this would be to let the patient die as their core temperature can go as high as 105 degrees.