NSW: Detention ctr medical care criticsed over prostitute death
SYDNEY, April 24 AAP - A NSW coroner today criticised the medical practices and record-keepingof a Sydney detention centre after a Thai prostitute died during heroin withdrawals.
Puangthong Simaplee, 27, died three days after she was arrested by immigration officialsfor visa breaches in an inner-Sydney brothel on September 23, 2001.
She was born in Thailand's Chaing Mai province and sold at the age of 12 before beingsmuggled into Australia where she worked as a sex slave for 15 years.
Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich today found Ms Simaplee died from heroin withdrawal,malnutrition and early acute pneumonia.
Mr Milovanovich highlighted major concerns with the standard of care Ms Simaplee receivedin the federal government-run facility.
The coroner heard Ms Simaplee weighed 38 kilograms when she arrived at Villawood butafter hours of vomiting continuously, she lost 20 per cent of her body fluids, dying sevenkilos lighter.
She was not hospitalised but was given an injection of the anti-vomiting drug Largactilin her cell, despite a doctor prescribing it be taken orally.
The use of this drug was later connected to her death in expert evidence, as its sedativeeffect caused her to inhale her own vomit leading to cardiac arrest.
Doctors also told the inquest Ms Simaplee would have lived had she been hospitalised.
The coroner found Ms Simaplee's poor condition should have generated a higher degreeof awareness from medical staff about the possible dangers of drug withdrawal.
He recommended Largactil be removed as a treatment for drug withdrawal and that staffbe directed to keep more comprehensive notes after those provided at the inquest "fellwell short of the standard expected".
He also criticised using non-medically trained detention officers to check on the conditionof detainees, recommending they be stripped of this responsibility.
Mr Milovanovich used the hearing to call on the government to investigate human traffickingwith "vigour and appropriate resources" to eradicate the practice and prosecute thoseresponsible.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) demanded tonight that thefederal government do more than merely detain and deport women such as Ms Simaplee.
"If the coroner is correct ... it is critical that the government move to develop amulti-agency approach to this problem that does more than deport the women (and thus theevidence) concerned," Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward said in the HREOC statement.
Human Rights Commissioner Sev Ozdowski said the case "highlights the tragic consequencesthat can arise when detention takes a higher priority than the health needs of individuals".
Speaking outside court, Kathleen Maltzahn, a representative from sex industry protectiongroup Project Respect, said the system had let Ms Simaplee down.
"These staff had no idea about how vulnerable she was and we see that in the fact thatshe was kept there for 65 hours, almost 72, without being taken to the hospital," Ms Maltzahnsaid.
The Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs refused to commenton the coroner's findings until the full report had been read.
AAP swe/pa/jnb
KEYWORD: SIMAPLEE SECOND NIGHTLEAD
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