Beware of New Syndrome: "Sudden Death After Arrest"

Thanks, Karen.  I hope this Spanish ailment is contained before it makes it to America!  Folks arrested around here already have enough problems staying alive and well until their court dates ("innocent until proven guilty" notwithstanding).

Mary

Thanks so much for the flag and comments.  Then the strange ailment may have originated here in the U.S., if your account is accurate.  In any case, it is a real dangerous syndrome!  The news report stated that 60 Spaniards have already met an untimely end from having contracted it.  I think the CDC needs to act immediately to make sure that this outbreak is contained in Europe.  This new strain must be eradicated at the source in Spain, because it will be dangerous for too many folks if allowed to spread.  I wonder if there is a vaccine available?  We should probably inoculate all the minority youths and mental patients right away, and everyone who has a propensity to participate in demonstrations for social change.

Thanks, Paschen! 

I was just thinking that the threat of death from this new syndrome may also endanger folks incarcerated in jail cells nearest to the infected victim.  The syndrome might attack them through their eyes.  Then, those nearby detainees would also perish from Sudden Death After Arrest, no matter how long they may have been incarcerated. 

Thanks, Resonant Earth.  At least for now, folks still think it necessary to come up with scientific names to excuse cruelty.  I find that somewhat reassuring.  During Hitler's regime, such "niceties" were dispensed with altogether.

Hello, Beaulieu.  Thanks for the flag.

Taser companies market their product very successfully as a "non-lethal" device.  In Florida and other places, it has even been declared by courts as acceptable for police to use Tasers to "control" children.  A couple of dads have even been arrested for tasering their own kids.  Profits from Taser sales are very high, and many investors are happy campers about that. 

Each year, however, many people are dying and suffering permanent injuries from having been Tasered by law enforcement.  This results in a good many lawsuits against Taser manufacturers and police departments across the country.  Naturally, such legal action is damaging to the image of Tasers being "non-lethal."  Negative press has resulted in a public outcry against Taser use.  There are petitions calling for their immediate discontinuation.  Humanitarians are concerned about the deaths and injuries to citizens, and generally, taxpayers are concerned about the cost to settle wrongful death lawsuits.

When judges issue orders to medical examiners making them remove references to "death by Taser" from autopsy reports, Taser manufacturers can keep selling their deadly devices as being "non-lethal" and municipalities can dodge financial accountability for wrongful deaths of citizens Tasered to death by police.  With a new "syndrome" to explain such deaths, everybody wins except the dead citizens who were "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law" and their families who are left to grieve.  Unless the families have the means to ascertain independent autopsy reports for loved ones killed in this manner (by this new "syndrome"), they may find it hard to recover damages for such wrongful deaths.

Louis... a featherweight boxer. Young, angry, but not mean. He was killed in 1983.