Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Whistleblower Complaint Says ICE's Medical Care For Jailed Immigrants Was So Poor It Resulted In 4 Deaths
BuzzFeed News: Deaths, Surgeries, Drugs: Health Care For Jailed Immigrants Criticized In Memo About Secret ICE Whistleblower
Immigrants held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails around the US received medical care so bad it resulted in two preventable surgeries, including an 8-year-old boy who had to have part of his forehead removed, and contributed to four deaths, according to an internal complaint from an agency whistleblower. The allegations appear in an explosive Department of Homeland Security memo, obtained by BuzzFeed News, containing reports of detainees being given incorrect medication, suffering from delays in treating withdrawal symptoms, and one who was allowed to become so mentally unstable he lacerated his own penis and required reparative surgery. (Aleaziz, 12/12)
Axios: Report: Internal ICE Memo Details Allegations Of Medical Neglect
Details: The memo says the agency's inspector general received its first complaint in April 2018, which claims that detainees were subjected to "forcible medication injections as a means of behavior control" and "misdiagnosis of medical and mental health conditions," among other accusations. (Rummler, 12/13)
The Associated Press: Report: Whistleblower Says ICE Denied Healthcare To Migrants
At the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, a man who was bleeding through his skin continued to receive aspirin even though he had extremely thin blood. The man was eventually taken to a hospital in critical condition and not expected to survive, according to a report summarizing the complaint that was delivered to ICE leadership in March. In Arizona, a detainee at the Eloy Federal Contract Facility had “worsening psychosis-related symptoms, but the psychiatrist failed to treat him,” the report says. (12/13)
The Hill: Memo Reveals Improper Medical Care By ICE Led To Deaths, Surgery For Child's Partial Forehead Removal
In December 2017, the boy’s mother reportedly told officials at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, that her son’s earache had worsened for weeks. Medical personnel diagnosed him with swimmer’s ear and gave him ear drops, but two weeks later the boy had seizures and doctors at a local hospital diagnosed him with Pott’s puffy tumor, a rare infection in the skull. Doctors had to remove part of the boy’s forehead to treat the infection, and the whistleblower alleged that “inadequate medical care provided by [the detention center] was a contributory factor resulting in harm.” (Pitofsky, 12/12)
In related news —
BuzzFeed News: ICE Destroyed Footage Of A Trans Asylum-Seeker Who Died In Custody Despite A Request To Save It
Federal immigration officials were asked to retain footage of a transgender detainee 10 days after her death — yet roughly three months later they said it no longer existed, according to a new internal email reviewed by BuzzFeed News. The video of 33-year-old Roxsana Hernández Rodriguez, who died in US custody on May 25, 2018, was requested by an investigative division of ICE as part of a review into her death. In the June 4, 2018, email, an analyst with ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility requested a number of records related to Hernández's death, including footage of her time at the Cibola County Correctional Center (CCCC) in Milan, New Mexico, on May 16–17. (Flores, 12/12)
