You’re saying that it’s not likely someone with a fatal dose of fentanyl in their system would die of a fentanyl overdose? OK then…
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No, that’s not what I’m saying. If you want to quote me please use the quote feature, or don’t put words in my mouth.
I have already linked to that multiple times above, Several links to autopsy reports as well as articles about them.
Quotes for thee, not for me, eh McNulty?
Well, that’s what I was saying, to which you replied, “Bullshit,” along with a couple of cute emojis.
That is a very good synopsis, Milker.
Thank you. It doesn’t seem controversial to me to say that someone with a fatal dose of fentanyl in their system, like Floyd had, would be likely to die of a fentanyl overdose. So now you’re agreeing with me?
No, but you’re doing a fantastic job of arguing with yourself.
The autopsies above do not say Fentanyl overdose was the cause of death. In fact, multiple autopsies say that asphyxiation from having his neck stepped on was the cause. I’ve linked to them above.
There’s only one official autopsy report, and it lists the cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest.
You’re right, one says cardiopulmonary arrest the other says asphyxiation. Both attribute the cause of death to Chauvin stepping on Floyd’s neck, not fetanyl.
"The cause of death described by both Dr. Baker and the pathologists who performed the second autopsy amounted to substantially the same thing, some experts said, which was “that external pressure in a prone position to Mr. Floyd caused his death,” Dr. Banerjee said.
After the initial autopsy, forensic pathologists no longer have access to an intact body, and sometimes organs or tissues are unavailable, having been removed for further study. Even so, doctors sometimes document findings that an examiner missed in the first autopsy or that were not apparent.
“There are multiple reasons you might see something at second autopsy that’s not seen at the first and vice versa,” Dr. Melinek said.
Mr. Floyd’s family hired Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson to perform a second autopsy. Both experts said that pressure on Mr. Floyd’s neck and back during his restraint by the police led him to die of asphyxia, a term Dr. Baker did not use in his official report.
“Toxicology report was made public by the MN prosecution revealing the cause of George Floyd’s death was a fentanyl overdose,” said one March 24 Facebook post.
The Facebook post is wrong about what the Hennepin County medical examiner’s autopsy said. The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.
Two autopsies were completed after Floyd died in May 2020, following what video footage shows was roughly nine minutes spent pinned under Chauvin’s knee. The two reports found different causes of death, but neither ruled that Floyd died because of an overdose.
PolitiFact | No, autopsy doesn’t say George Floyd died of overdose
Only the first is official. One done by an examiner paid for by Floyd’s family obviously carries less weight. And the official one doesn’t say that the cause of death is Chauvin stepping on Floyd’s neck, but rather that subdual, restraint and neck compression are complicating factors.
Floyd had been in asystole so long by the time he reached the hospital that the ultimate cause of his cardiac arrest is impossible to prove. It could have been the fentanyl (and meth), his heart disease, the use of force by the cops, or any combination of the three.
I guess it will all boil down to who can make the best case in court. The prosecution seems to be doing OK with a pulmonology expert right as we speak, but who knows what will happen during cross-examination. The defense lawyer is really good.
One “report” was paid for by the family’s lawyers, right?
So that should be totally acceptable.
Doctor Who Pronounced George Floyd Dead Says He Believed ‘Asphyxia’ Most Likely Caused Death
KEY FACTS
Dr. Bradford Langenfeld, who treated Floyd when he was brought to the Hennepin County Medical Center, testified that he was in a state of pulseless electrical activity (PEA), when someone does not have a pulse but still has some electric activity detected by hospital monitors, while in his care.
The PEA state is most commonly caused by hypovolemia (blood loss) and hypoxia (low oxygen), Langenfeld said, but he could not find any indication that Floyd was bleeding in a way that would’ve caused cardiac arrest.
“Based on the history that was available to me, I thought hypoxia [loss or deprivation of oxygen] was one of the more likely possibilities,” said Langenfeld, who explained that he considered the key known causes of cardiac arrest while examining Floyd.
Langenfeld said he considered but ultimately rejected that Floyd could have died from “excited delirium,” a condition often associated with drug use that is characterized by a sudden onset of aggression and distress, often resulting in sudden death, saying he received no information indicating Floyd had been in that condition.
The doctor also said Floyd did not have the symptoms of a heart attack or the tell-tale signs of a drug overdose, though he noted during cross-examination with Chauvin’s attorney Eric Nelson that fentanyl, the drug found in Floyd’s system, is dangerous because it can suppress breathing.
“I didn’t feel there was a specific toxin for which we could give a medication that would reverse his arrest,” said Langenfeld.
“I felt that at the time based on the information I had it was more likely than the other possibilities,” Langenfeld said of Floyd’s death being caused by asphyxia.
This guy is kind of a dick, but when he gets to the facts in question today, the amount of drugs in GF at the time of his death and what their effect was, would have been, or probably were:
Even now, 9 days in, we still don’t have an actual medical opinion of Floyd’s cause of death, other than cardiac arrest induced by apparent asphyxia. Was that asphyxia caused by the officers charged in this case? Perhaps.
Alternatively, is there an equally, or even more likely, explanation for Floyd’s death? Perhaps the astonishing high levels of fentanyl in his system, and the fentanyl discovered (eventually) in both the Mercedes SUV Floyd was driving and the squad car from which Floyd achieved his violent escape.
After all, how does fentanyl kill? By depressing respiratory function. That is, by chemical induction of asphyxia. Which eventually, of course, will result in cardiac arrest. Which is how Floyd died.
The more the case turns to drugs—not in the hypothetical sense of Floyd’s generalized and tragic life-long struggle with addiction, but in the specific sense that his body was full of a drug whose lethal effect was cessation of respiration—the more reasonable doubt is raised about the state’s claim that the causal factor in Floyd’s death was the officers charged in this case.
Yesterday we saw the state compelled to begin presenting witnesses—again, all state investigators or private scientists paid by the state—who provided concrete investigative, photographic, forensic, and chemical testimony about the lethal fentanyl found in both Floyd’s own vehicle and the squad car he fought his way out of. All of that moves the collective narrative away from Chauvin’s knee as a cause of Floyd’s death, and towards Floyd’s poorly made decision to hide his toxic drugs from police by ingesting them as being what killed him.
Soon—perhaps today—we’ll start hearing from the experts who will testify not just about the drugs found in Floyd’s vehicle and the squad car, but about the lethal levels of those drugs found in Floyd himself.
And that can only move the narrative of cause of death further from Chauvin’s knee and closer to Floyd effectively killing himself with a lethal overdose of fentanyl.
That can only raise even further reasonable doubt.
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Even if the doctor had known Floyd had a fatal dose of fentanyl in his system, at that point he’d been in asystole too long for something like Narcan to have any effect whatsoever.
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It doesn’t help the argument when a main defense witness says that from Chauvin’s body cam footage it looks like Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s shoulder.
I believe that’s being called the “neck area” now by the prosecution.
That’s really stupid. I think that Chauvin should have released the restraint much earlier and even though the evidence doesn’t seem to merit murder or manslaughter charges, that doesn’t mean Chauvin acted in a good way…in fact it seems that he acted horribly. But what the cops did from the point in your picture until the time they put him on the ground and kneeled on him was, if anything, too lenient and accommodating.
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I don’t know how anyone watching this trial can believe that there is not reasonable doubt as to the cause of Floyd’s death.
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Most folks are outcome oriented now I’d guess. 
I think this is the disconnect with some people. Not accusing anyone here, but I think people don’t understand the prosecution is going for specific charges, murder 2 if I’m not mistaken.
I think Chauvin was wrong for what he did, it makes me sick to see an officer act that way with a civilian. But is he going to be successful prosecuted for the charges the prosecutors are going after is another question.
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