Emigdio Abel Reyes Clemente
Emigdio Abel Reyes Clemente, a 54-year-old man from Mexico, died in ICE immigration detention at the Florence Service Processing Center in Arizona on April 3, 2019. According to a report by the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights and American Oversight, he sought care for fever, chills and cough, and medical staff assumed without testing that he had influenza. The report says his condition worsened over two days, that he was placed in a medical isolation cell, and that he was found dead there from untreated bacterial pneumonia. The autopsy listed complications of liver cirrhosis, diabetes and hypertensive cardiovascular disease as the cause of death, and medical reviewers disagreed, finding the death preventable.
Cause of death, as reported: Died from neglect by staff (disputed). The autopsy listed liver cirrhosis, diabetes and hypertensive heart disease as the cause, while medical reviewers cited by the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights and American Oversight say staff assumed influenza without testing and he died of untreated bacterial pneumonia.
Reported by: autopsy report; ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights and American Oversight report (advocates).