Haitian woman detained by U.S. immigration officials settles lawsuit




1:47 p.m. EST, December 18, 2009


MIAMI - U.S. immigration officials have paid $47,500 to a Haitian woman who was denied treatment for uterine fibroid tumors while she was held in immigration custody for seven months in Florida, her attorneys said Friday.

The woman, identified only as "Rosemarie M." in court documents for privacy reasons, had suffered from daily bleeding and pain for months before ICE detained her in April.

Medical records provided to ICE showed that she needed surgery, but detention medical staff trivialized her complaints and denied her access to her doctors' records, said Tania Galloni, an attorney at the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

FIAC sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Glades County sheriff and Armor Correctional Health Services on her behalf in September. The lawsuit alleged deliberate indifference to a serious medical need.

The woman underwent surgery Dec. 1. She was released from ICE custody on Dec. 11 after reaching a settlement with ICE.

The federal agency agreed to pay her $47,500 in damages and attorneys' fees, and in exchange she agreed to drop the lawsuit, her attorneys said.

ICE also stopped deportation proceedings against her. She will not be detained as she seeks a visa granted to victims of violent crime in the U.S., said Galloni, who would not offer details about the pending application.

"In light of all the facts and circumstances of this case, ICE has determined that it is appropriate to release Rosemarie M. to pursue any relief that may be available to her," ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas said.

The 40-year-old Miami woman left Haiti for the U.S. in the mid-1990s.

Her condition was diagnosed in the summer of 2008 while she served a sentence on a felony theft conviction at a Homestead jail, where she was held until she was released into ICE custody.

She had been receiving treatment and doctors recommended surgery, but she was detained, then transferred in May to the Glades County Detention Center, before they could operate, Galloni said.

"Coming into ICE custody, Rosemarie had medical records that showed she was sick and she needed surgery," Galloni said. "She told anybody who would listen to her that she was sick and needed help."

Instead of scheduling the surgery, detention medical staff provided basic care such as Tylenol for pain and iron for blood loss, authorized diagnostic tests and denied her access to a lawyer during medical appointments, according to the lawsuit.

An immigration judge alerted FIAC to the woman's case in June. That month, detention officials denied the woman access to her medical records, saying the documents were confidential and she had no safe place to keep them, according to the lawsuit.

Dora Schriro, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano's detention adviser at the time, told FIAC on Aug. 27 that the woman would be examined by a surgeon and that any treatment the doctor recommended would be immediately authorized, according to the lawsuit.

The woman was examined Sept. 2 and the doctor recommended surgery "as soon as possible," according to the lawsuit states. But the surgery was not scheduled.

On Nov. 19, U.S. District Judge John E. Steele ordered ICE and detention center staff to provide the medically recommended treatment "without further delay." The woman was admitted to a hospital on Nov. 30 and had surgery the next day.

Earlier this year, FIAC and Human Rights Watch issued separate reports concluding that U.S. immigration authorities routinely delay, deny or botch medical care for detained immigrants in poorly equipped facilities nationwide. The reports blamed the problems on unskilled or indifferent staff, overcrowding, bureaucratic red tape, language barriers and limited services available to ICE detainees.

"This case shows that seriously ill detainees like Rosemarie simply should not be detained pending resolution of their civil, immigration cases," Galloni said.

In October, Napolitano and ICE director John Morton said providing "sound medical care" was one of the core principles guiding efforts to overhaul the detention system. Within six months, ICE would implement a medical classification system to support detainees with "unique medical or mental health needs," officials said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... 8559.story