A debilitating death due to starvation…! Doctors Analyze Surveillance Video of Sri Lankan Woman Who Died in Detention Facility

I want you to take me to the hospital.”

She begged the staff in a weak voice to take her to the hospital, as she had lost the strength to get up from the bed. However, her earnest plea was not heeded.

In the case of the death of Wishma Sandamali (33 years old), a Sri Lankan national who died while in the custody of the Nagoya Immigration Office in March 2009, the family’s legal team has disclosed the surveillance camera footage of the time before her death.

Mr. Wishma was detained at the Nagoya Immigration Office in August 2008. The video footage released to the public consists of approximately five minutes of surveillance camera footage recorded from February 22 of the following year to March 6, the day of her death. The video shows a weakened Wishma lying in bed and responding to questions from nurses and staff in a weak voice.

[February 22, ’21

Nurse: “You should drink (oral rehydration solution) in your current condition, though.”

Ms. Wishma: “I can’t drink it. …… I can’t do anything on my own.”

[Feb. 23

Wishma: “I’m going to die tonight” “Take me to the hospital, please” “I can’t do anything. I can’t do it anymore. Anay (Sinhalese word for begging for life), please, I haven’t eaten for a long time, I haven’t slept for a long time. I haven’t slept for a long time.

(omitted)

The staff member said, “I want to take you there, but I can’t do it with my power, I don’t have power. I can’t do it because I don’t have power. I can’t do it because I don’t have power. I can’t make decisions. I understand.”

Later, Wishma was unable to see a doctor, and she became increasingly debilitated.

March 5.

Ms. Wishma “woo (moaning, unable to speak)”

Nurse: “It’s good to know that it hurts (laughs). If I can’t understand pain, I’m in trouble. I’m in trouble. All I can do is worry.”

Then, at 2:07 p.m. on March 6, Wishma’s fingertips became cold, she lost her pulse, and she stopped responding to the calls of the staff. She was finally taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 3:25 p.m.

Wishma’s family has filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming that the government ” failed to provide necessary medical care,” but the government has asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit , saying that its actions were not illegal. The cause of Wishma’s death, which has not yet been revealed, is expected to be a point of contention in the trial.

What in the world could have caused Wishma’s death? Dr. Hiroshi Honda, former assistant director of Saitama Saiseikai Kurihashi Hospital, explains.

As of February 22, Wishma could hardly move and was not drinking any water. Her voice was weak. If a healthy woman in her thirties was in a condition where she could not get up voluntarily, I feel that she should have been examined by a doctor at this point and given some kind of treatment, such as an intravenous drip.

In late January 2009, five months after she was admitted to the Nagoya Immigration Center, Wishma had lost about 13 kg and was having difficulty eating and drinking. When he visited a gastroenterologist the following February, the doctor stated in his medical record that if he could not take his medication internally, he would need an intravenous drip or hospitalization, and tests showed that he was starving. However, the doctor could not approve of intravenous drips or hospitalization, and the patient had no choice but to return to his place of internment.

The most likely cause is the strong psychological stress caused by being detained at the Nagoya Immigration Office for a long period of time. First, the patient became unable to eat, and as his physical strength declined, his internal organs also weakened, and he may have gradually lost the ability to drink water. However, even when patients are unable to feed themselves, there are ways to do so, such as supplying nutrients through a vein, as long as they receive proper medical care. At the very least, if the patient had been admitted to a gastroenterologist’s office and received appropriate treatment, she would not have died.

Two days before her death, immigration officials took Wishma to see a psychiatrist. The doctor who examined her at that time stated in the medical record that she was suffering from mental and physical problems, and that there was a possibility that she was suffering from a fraudulent disease. At the same time, he wrote, “If we release her on parole, we can expect her to get better.” However, Wishma passed away before this could be realized.

Dr. Honda points out the sloppiness of the immigration authorities’ medical system.

Dr. Honda points out the sloppiness of the immigration authorities’ medical system: “Wishma was starving and needed an intravenous drip, but it is strange that they diagnosed her with a fraudulent disease. Perhaps there was no medical system that allowed doctors to communicate with each other or to check records properly, and psychiatrists were unable to fully grasp her progress up to that point. In a proper hospital, the entire course of medical examinations would be kept in the medical record, and cases like this would not be put away as fraudulent. No one seems to have examined Ms. Wishma’s body responsibly, and this is a disregard for human life, so to speak. This is a disregard for human life, and it could be described as artificial homicide.”

He also said that the biggest problem lies in the immigration system, which makes it difficult for detainees to receive medical attention.

In the video, a staff member says, ‘I can’t take them to the hospital because I don’t have the power,’ which suggests that even advising superiors that an inmate needs to see a doctor is a difficult environment. In a medical environment where it is difficult to express one’s opinion to one’s superiors, medical mistakes are likely to occur, and it is the same story. I think the Immigration Bureau and the Ministry of Justice have a huge responsibility to manage this situation.

At a press conference held on April 6, Wishma’s sister, Paul Nima, expressed her regret that her sister had been left to die.

I don’t want something like that to happen again. I hope that you will clarify why my sister had to die, and that you will seriously discuss measures to prevent a recurrence in the Diet.”

The state submitted to the court five hours of video evidence out of the 295 hours of surveillance footage of Wishma. Among them were “milk through the nose,” “Are you on drugs? ” and “Are you on drugs?

Justice Minister Ken Saito called the release of the video by the bereaved family’s lawyers problematic, saying, “We edited a part of the video to be examined in the trial without permission and provided it to the mass media. We decided to release a small portion of the video footage.