Jump to content

User:Geo Swan/Guantanamo/Guantanamo medical records

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


There has been a long-standing controversy over granting Guantanamo captives' lawyers access to their clients' Guantanamo medical records.[1][2][3][4][5]

2004 reports that medical staff were sharing medical records with interrogators

[edit]

In 2004 reports surfaced that Guantanamo medical staff were sharing medical records with interrogators, in order to assist in the captives interrogations.[6] This practice was criticized as being in conflict to the widely accepted medical ethics standards.

Individual captives requests for medical records to document their claims of abuse

[edit]

Certain captives' attorneys' were seeking access to their medical records as early as 2005.[7][8][9][10][11]

During 2005 Attorneys for 17 Yemeni captives in Guantanamo sought their medical records in order to document their force-feeding.[12]

Candace Gorman's requests for medical records

[edit]

Candace Gorman, attorney for Abdul Al Ghazzawi, and another captive, requested access for years to the medical records of her clients, because she couldn't help noticing alarming declines in their health.[13]

Mohammed Jawad's missing medical records

[edit]

Former Prosecutor Darrel Vandeveld resigned when he found exculpatory evidence in favor of Mohammed Jawad's innocence was being withheld from his defense attorneys. He found exculpatory evidence was being withheld from him.[14]

Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair, a long running hunger striker.[15]

In 2008 Jennifer Daskal and Stacy Sullivan reported on a captive named Walid who was suffering delusion.[16]

Medical records of the apparent suicide victims

[edit]

According to camp authorities five Guantanamo captives committed suicide. Their medical records indicate that they were long-term hunger strikers.[17][18][19]

2016 rectal repair

[edit]

On October 2016 former CIA captive al-Hawsawi, who had been suffering from extremely painful rectal prolapse finally had surgery to try to repair his lower GI.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Arthur Bright (2005-10-27). "US must allow access to Gitmo hunger strikers' medical records". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  2. ^ H. Candace Gorman (2007-01-20). "Diary of a Guantánamo Attorney". In These Times. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  3. ^ Janice Hopkins Tanne (2005-11-05). "Lawyers gain access to medical records of some Guantanamo prisoners". British Medical Journal. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  4. ^ Adam Zagorini (2006-06-30). "At Guantanamo, Dying Is Not Permitted". Time magazine. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  5. ^ "Lawyers seek Guantanamo hunger strike medical records". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-10-15. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Judge Kessler said the allegations concerning the medical treatment of the prisoners were 'very serious. I don't understand why the Government is so resistant to providing medical records to counsels,' she said.
  6. ^ Peter Slevin, Joe Stephens (2004-06-10). "Detainees' Medical Files Shared: Guantanamo Interrogators' Access Criticized". Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Military interrogators at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been given access to the medical records of individual prisoners, a breach of patient confidentiality that ethicists describe as a violation of international medical standards designed to protect captives from inhumane treatment.
  7. ^ Neil A. Lewis (2005-04-14). "Guantánamo Detainee's Suit Says Prison Guards Beat Him". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-07-19. The lawyer's accounts form the basis of a federal suit in Boston that asks the Defense Department to release medical records that might corroborate Mr. Idir's account.
  8. ^ "Guantanamo Bosnians cry 'torture'". BBC News. 2005-04-14. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Despite a ruling by Bosnia's highest court that they should be released, the men were handed over to the US in 2002 and have been held as "enemy combatants" ever since. Their legal action is aimed at forcing the US authorities to release documents, medical records and videotapes regarding their detention. Lawyers for the men say that despite numerous requests under the Freedom of Information Act, they have been unable to obtain any of the documents they seek.
  9. ^ "Guantanamo suit details alleged bashings, humiliation". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-04-14. Retrieved 2009-07-19. The suit was filed by lawyers for six Guantanamo prisoners as part of their challenge to the legality of their detention. It asked the court to compel the Government to provide documents, medical records and videotapes regarding their detention requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
  10. ^ "Guantanamo lawyers demand access". BBC News. 2005-10-14. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Julia Tarver, who is representing up to 10 Saudi prisoners, told the court that lawyers for prisoners needed 'more frequent access to our clients' as well as their medical records. 'The access to clients in this grave situation can't be once a month,' she said. She recently visited Guantanamo Bay and said the hospital conditions were 'quite disturbing', with "no medical supervision" and unsterilised equipment.
  11. ^ "Judge Is Urged to Deny More Access to Detainees on Hunger Strike". New York Times. 2005-10-15. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Lawyers for the detainees on hunger strike, who have complained of inhumane and cruel treatment, are also seeking greater access to their clients and copies of their medical records.
  12. ^ Carol D. Leonnig (2005-09-21). "Detainee Hunger Strike Prompts Request for Health Records Access". Washington Post. p. A24. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Attorneys for several detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, asked a federal judge for immediate access to their clients' medical records, saying they fear an eight-week-long hunger strike is growing more serious, according to court papers declassified yesterday.
  13. ^ H. Candace Gorman (2008-03-14). "A sickening truth at Guantánamo: A gravely ill detainee I represent, never charged with a crime, has been neglected by military doctors. Will he be the next to die inside the notorious prison?". Salon magazine. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  14. ^ Paisley (2008-12-06). "Former Guantanamo prosecutor may be key in UK case". Fox News. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Vandeveld said Jawad's medical records, interrogation reports and a videotape were missing from his evidence file. 'It was almost as it if the tape has disappeared and many of the reports never materialized,' Vandeveld said. The only medical records he said he eventually obtained were from when Jawad was transferred to Guantanamo as a teenager in 2003.
  15. ^ "U.S.: No deal to end long Gitmo hunger strike -- Saudi prisoner has refused to eat since 2005 and is force-fed nutrients". MSNBC. 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2009-06-04. There are currently 34 prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brook DeWalt, spokesman for the detention center.
  16. ^ Jennifer Daskal, Stacy Sullivan (2008-06-10). "The insanity inside Guantánamo: A new report reveals that a number of prisoners -- even some long ago cleared to leave -- are spiraling into hallucinations, despair and suicide". Salon magazine. Retrieved 2009-07-19. After the U.S. denied Walid's attorneys' requests to release Walid's medical records, and knowing that they would not be allowed to bring in an independent psychiatrist to evaluate him in person, Walid's attorneys retained Dr. Daryl Matthews, a psychiatrist once hired by the Department of Defense to evaluate the mental health facilities at Guantánamo. They asked Matthews to prepare a questionnaire by which he could do a proxy psychological assessment. From the results of this questionnaire, Matthews concluded that Walid appears to have developed schizophrenia and suffers from delusions, significant anxiety and depression.
  17. ^ "Guantanamo Detainee Apparently Commits Suicide, U.S. Military Says". Washington Post. 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2009-07-19. The prisoner appears to have joined the long-running hunger strike at Guantanamo, according to medical records previously released by the military. His weight was down to about 86 pounds in December 2005. He weighed 124 pounds when he was taken to Guantanamo.
  18. ^ "US/Yemen: Negotiate Return of Guantanamo Detainees". Reuters. 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2009-07-19. Saleh, 31, had been held without charge at Guantanamo since February 2002. Lawyers who visited Guantanamo in May said he was one of seven prisoners being held in a psychiatric ward and that he was restrained in a chair and force-fed through a tube, indicating he was on a hunger strike. Pentagon medical records show Saleh's weight had dropped to 87 pounds in 2005. He weighed 124 pounds when he entered Guantanamo.
  19. ^ David McFadden (2009-06-02). "Military: Gitmo detainee dies of apparent suicide". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-07-19. The prisoner appears to have joined the long-running hunger strike at Guantanamo, according to medical records previously released by the military in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by The Associated Press. His weight was down to about 86 pounds (39 kilograms) in December 2005. He weighed 124 pounds (56 kilograms) when he was first taken to Guantanamo in February 2002.

Guantanamo medical records