Thursday, December 11, 2003

Fed order: Do not resuscitate detainees

The warden of the York County Prison, one of the largest immigrant detention centers on the East Coast, said federal officials told him last month not to medically resuscitate any detainee for any reason.

A spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a bureau of the Department of Homeland Security, said there apparently has been a misunderstanding.

However, Warden Tom Hogan said he definitely did not misunderstand a verbal directive given during an inspection of the prison. He said he then asked for a waiver from the bureau's alleged "do-not-resuscitate" policy.

Hogan told the county's prison oversight board yesterday about his meeting with an inspector who he said told him not to resuscitate any federal detainee by using CPR in any case, such as a heart attacks or massive injury.

...During last month's inspection, Hogan said, an inspector told him the county's policy [to resuscitate everybody unless the person has a living will stating otherwise] conflicts with the federal government's desire.

..Bureau spokesman Lance Payne said the conversation Hogan relayed yesterday won't be in [the federal government's report of the inspection and conversation], because either the inspector misspoke or Hogan misunderstood.

"When you have a discussion after an inspection ... it's really not binding. It's just an explanation of circumstances that were found," Payne said.

...Mike Gilhooly, deputy press secretary for the bureau's eastern division, said the final report will reflect that the county's standards are fine.
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