The panel was announced last year, saying it would review the state's ketamine waiver, which allows workers to use the drug outsides of hospitals.
An expert medical panel in Colorado said that"excited delirium," a condition involving erratic behavior, is not a reason to use the drug ketamine as a restraint.
Ketamine is often used during emergencies when there is a risk of danger involving medical staff or the patient. However, usage of the drug came under scrutiny in August 2019, after the death of Elijah McClain. McClain was injected with ketamine after being diagnosed with excited delirium when he was stopped by police.
Paramedics are recommended by the panel to only give ketamine when no other safe options to monitor, treat, or transport patients are available. The panel also said it could be used when patients exhibit"serious, probable, imminent threat of bodily harm to self or others."This photo shows a vial of ketamine, which is normally stored in a locked cabinet, July 25, 2018 in Chicago.
She added that the panel wanted to ensure that field personnel like paramedics"aren't exempt from needing to understand where bias happens and how it plays out in the care that they deliver." He was only 140 pounds and should have received 315 milligrams, the officials said. McClain suffered cardiac arrest and was later declared brain dead and taken off life support.
The report also called on the Colorado Legislature to consider state standardization of emergency medical service programs and training, noting that"in all but two states" ambulance agencies are licensed at the state level — one of those exceptions being Colorado, where agencies are licensed by counties.