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by tablespoon 1524 days ago
> ICE has been accused of performing large numbers of forced sterilizations within camps in US borders.

> https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/politics/immigration-customs-...

The hysterectomies weren't US or ICE policy, they were the result of poor oversight of one contract doctor who was committing malpractice.

https://theintercept.com/2021/05/20/ice-irwin-hysterectomies...

> ICE stopped sending immigrant women to Amin after the allegations of nonconsensual and unnecessary procedures came to light. The FBI is currently investigating Amin for a series of unnecessary, rough, or abusive procedures, according to a report in Prism by Tina Vásquez earlier this month.

Amin is the doctor.

1 comments

The feds shut down the entire facility after the allegations came out. It wasn't a case of one doctor.
> The feds shut down the entire facility after the allegations came out. It wasn't a case of one doctor.

Well the hysterectomy thing was the one doctor (and the facility failing at its duty to properly oversee him). However, it wouldn't surprise me if there were other issues there as well.

Habitually performing major surgery without informed consent is a structural problem that can't be pinned on a single doctor. An incredible amount of checks have to break down to get to that point.
> Habitually performing major surgery without informed consent is a structural problem that can't be pinned on a single doctor. An incredible amount of checks have to break down to get to that point.

We agree.

No, because I doubt very much that it was "a lack of oversight". He pretty much must have had support for what he was doing. There's a difference between not noticing something occasionally weird and mass sterilization.
> No, because I doubt very much that it was "a lack of oversight". He pretty much must have had support for what he was doing. There's a difference between not noticing something occasionally weird and mass sterilization.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/21/congress-ice...:

> At least 43 women at Irwin county detention center (ICDC), in Georgia, have now alleged misconduct by Amin. He is accused of operating on migrant women without their consent or performing procedures that were medically unnecessary and potentially endangered their ability to have children.

https://www.ajc.com/news/congressmen-georgia-doctor-should-n...:

> Ogburn, who has worked as a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist for nearly three decades and who has led organizations that develop patient care standards, said Amin did a variety of tests and surgeries for patients that “did them little or no good, and potentially caused harm.”

> “In summary the care provided by Dr. Amin did not meet acceptable standards based on the review of these records,” Ogburn wrote as part of his complaint. “My concern is that he was not competent and simply did the same evaluation and treatment on most patients because that is what he knew how to do, and/or he did tests and treatments that generated a significant amount of reimbursement without benefitting most patients.”

1. Less than 43 women is not "mass sterilization." It's well within the scope of damage could be expected from one incompetent doctor.

2. It's quite believable to me that the jail officials never questioned the medical activities of the doctor (let alone understood what he was doing was malpractice) and just ignored complaints they received from the detainees. For comparison, this outrageously incompetent guy (https://www.propublica.org/article/dr-death-christopher-dunt...) managed to avoid oversight for two years while he was maiming and killing people.

And did the feds shut down the facility due to public outcry?
I mean, after the lawsuit was filed, ICE shutdown the facility and expedited the deportations of all who had filed the suits leaving no paper trail and nowhere for the lawsuits to go. That's not exactly what I'd expect from an org acting on the up and up.