Ethics, Foreseeability, and Tragedy in Australian Immigration Detention.

Abstract

The death of Hamid Kehazaei, an asylum seeker detained on Manus Island, has raised a number of questions surrounding the medical treatment he received and whether a move to mainland Australia, if expedited, could have saved him. He died of severe septicaemia from an infected cut, and the circumstances surrounding his death were largely unknown until medical documents were recently obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) (Willacy, Solomons, and McDonald 2014). In these documents it was revealed that all treatment options on Manus Island had been exhausted, with recommendations for a transfer for further treatment made by International Health and Medical Services (IHMS), the medical provider on Manus. The initial request for a transfer to Port Moresby was made on August 25, 2014, which was subsequently delayed for more than twenty-four hours. He was then transferred to Brisbane on the afternoon of August 27 and pronounced dead on September 5. The ethical issues raised by this case are not isolated and are only part of long-term systemic failings that have compromised the health and well-being of those in immigration detention. According to the The Border Crossing Observatory (2015). there have been at least thirty-four deaths in immigration detention or community detention since 2000. At least eleven of these were suicides or suspected suicides. Hamid Kehazaei is one of three individuals who have died in offshore detention. These deaths have been set to a backdrop of epidemic levels of self-harm and poor physical and mental health. The immigration department itself acknowledged the link between prolonged immigration detention and deteriorating mental health at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) hearings into children in detention (Marr and Laughland 2014). The devastating impact immigration detention has upon health and multiple deaths in custody have prompted numerous investigations. The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s (2013) report into suicide and self-harm in immigration detention was critical of how policies and practices were implemented. Specifically, and with particular resonance for the above case, the Ombudsman commented on the placement of asylum seekers within the detention network in relation to their health and wellbeing. At the time, these decisions were guided by the Detention Facility Client Placement Model. This model guided placement decisions for onshore detention; it is not clear how placement is determined in offshore locations.