I'm a former police officer and now health researcher and want to focus on Freddie Gray's paralytic spinal injury rather than possible inordinate police delay in summoning medical attention ("Freddie Gray's spinal injury suggests 'forceful trauma,' doctors say," April 21). Spinal injury can worsen over a short or longer time. In the case of gradual spinal swelling, paralysis may develop over many hours.
The Merck Manual gives an example wherein post-traumatic muscle spasm actually stabilizes vertebrae, temporarily sparing soft tissue. When spasms subside, however, sometimes jagged edges of broken vertebrae slide, severing spinal nerves. It's quite possible that Mr. Gray suffered a delayed injury during initial reported police tackling or when falling from police transport van momentum or prior to police contact altogether and which only manifested later.
Some media reported that Mr. Gray asked for an inhaler and had asthma. If he suffered childhood asthma, this may suggest long term cortisone intake. In contrast to anabolic steroids, the unsanctioned use of which by some athletes builds up tissue, catabolic steroids like cortisone break down tissue. This would likely would have thinned bones over time, predisposing Mr. Gray to catastrophic fracture. Osteoporotic or osteopenic bones fracture more easily. In this case, the autopsy needs to examine bone density in the affected spinal area.
Jack Einheber, New York, N.Y.