Homeland Security official Beth Gibson tried to put a kinder face on immigration detention health care in a November 9 talk to health professionals at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Philadelphia. Instead of making detention center health staff pre-clear, and therefore pre-justify, every medical procedure that is referred to health professionals outside the prison walls, Homeland Security policy under consideration, according to Gibson, would devise a list of treatments that are “pre-approved.” Only more unusual services — such as CAT scans — would require special advance approval.
This is welcome news from Ms. Gibson, who, as Senior Councilor to the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security John Morton, surely appreciates the human costs of unjustified delays in detention health care that have been reported in the press and by human rights groups.
Still, the policy doesn’t go far enough in the opinion of a number of health professionals who attended the APHA session, chaired by detention health expert Homer Venters, MD, at which Ms. Gibson spoke. One participant called for health professionals to support comprehensive immigration reform, which would decrease the number of persons in the US who are amenable to detention in the first place. Leaders in the Jail and Prison interest group of APHA also called on health professionals to become much more involved in supporting reforms to immigration detention policy.
Posted in: American Public Health Association, APHA, Asylum, beth gibson, cat scans, Custody, department of homeland security, General Human Rights, Health, Health Rights Advocate, homer venters, jail and prison interest group, john morton, Philadelphia
Discussion: Comment Here »
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and Physicians for Human Rights are pleased to invite you to
a training for health professionals on how to diagnose, evaluate and document the physical and psychological after-effects of torture and other severe human rights violations.
This is a great opportunity to gain a thorough introduction to working with asylum seekers or to enhance your skills.
Not able to make it to Florida? Please share this invitation with a friend or colleague who may be interested.
The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine designates this educational activity for a maximum of 6.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.TM (Physicians should only claim credits commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.)
Aiding Survivors of Torture:
Medical and Psychological Documentation of Asylum Seekers
Saturday, October 24, 2009
8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Mailman Center for Child Development
8th Floor Auditorium
Space is limited, so preference will be given to board certified and state licensed physicians.
Registration is required so please register today!
(If you’d like to host a training in your area, please contact Jennie Baldé at asylum [at] phrusa [dot] org.)
Posted in: Asylum, Asylum Network, Asylum training, CME, Custody, Health Rights Advocate, Miller School of Medicine, phrstudents, survivors of torture, University of Miami
Discussion: Comment Here »
It’s a script for a great horror story — or nightmare. Being:
- mentally ill,
- indigent,
- jailed, perhaps indefinitely, and
- without a lawyer or guardian or anyone to speak for you?
And it’s happening right now in America.
Indigent mentally ill persons are placed in immigration detention and ordered deported from the United States every day. They have no right to a free lawyer nor to a court-appointed representative to speak on their behalf. Many have stories like Xiu Ping Jaing: an immigrant who fled human rights abuse in her home country only to be caught in a system dubbed by one expert the “American gulag.”
Other mentally ill people in immigration detention are not immigrants at all: they’re US citizens who, without help, can be detained for years or deported away from family members who were never informed of the action taken and are frantic to find their missing loved ones.
For many human rights problems, the solutions are complex. This isn’t one of them. In July, PHR joined human rights groups across the United States in asking Attorney General Eric Holder to take common-sense steps:
- appoint lawyers for mentally ill detainees who can’t afford them,
- set up a fair process to determine individuals’ competency to face deportation hearings, and
- appoint guardians ad litem for individuals found incompetent.
Note: There is a file embedded within this post, please visit this post to download the file.
In ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the US agreed that
all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person (Art. 10(1)).
The Obama Administration can, and must, act now to ensure that the mentally ill in our immigration jails are treated with the dignity they deserve.
Posted in: ad litem, american gulag, article 10, Asylum, Custody, deportation, dignity, eric holder, General Human Rights, Health Rights Advocate, indigent persons, international covenant on civil and political rights, jails, lawyers, mental illness, obama administration, us attorney general, xiu ping jaing
Discussion: Comment Here »
