“The Department of Homeland Security’s inadequate medical technology and record-management for the thousands of migrants who pass through its custody are contributing to poor care and even deaths, according to lawsuit records reviewed by POLITICO.”
“A review by POLITICO of 22 deaths of detainees in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody between 2013 and 2018 revealed malfunctioning software and troubling gaps in use of technology, such as failure to properly document patient care or scribbling documentation in the margins of forms. Those reviews echo persistent complaints from experts and advocates for migrants rights who say attention to the medical needs of asylum seekers is indifferent at best. Recent reports indicate that Customs and Border Patrol rejected a CDC recommendation to administer flu shots to people in its custody; two children later died of flu in the agency’s facilities…”
“Homeland Security has touted efforts to digitize its record keeping, announcing in 2014 that ICE was adopting an eClinicalWorks digital health record to replace previous ‘legacy systems and paper-based files.’ But that’s just one set of records in the bureaucratic snarl where the health of detainees is documented — or fails to be.”
“ICE shares some facilities with state and local governments, and Border Patrol is responsible for patients to be picked up at the border. The agencies all have different policies, and their software doesn’t seem to consistently transmit information, according to advocates…” Read the full article here.
Source: ‘Black hole’ of medical records contributes to deaths, mistreatment at the border – By Darius Tahir, December 1, 2019. POLITICO.
