AP Investigation Finds Some Reports Of ICE Medical Misconduct, But No Evidence Of Mass Sterilizations

An Associated Press report published Friday alleges some evidence of improper medical conduct toward immigrants detained at the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia but does not support allegations of widespread, nonconsensual sterilizations made in a whistleblower complaint.

The complaint, filed by a nurse with the assistance of four Southern advocacy groups and released Monday, alleged the facility ignored COVID-19 safety guidelines, abused detainees and often performed questionably consensual surgeries that left some patients sterilized. AP did not find evidence of mass sterilizations but did uncover several allegations of medical misconduct. Priyanka Bhatt, staff attorney at Project South, said in an interview with The Washington Post she did not speak to anyone who had undergone forced sterilization, but left the statements in the report to spark an investigation into the allegations.

Dr. Mahendra Amin, the doctor identified as performing the operations, told The Intercept he has only performed “one or two hysterectomies in the past two [or] three years.” Records show women needing gynecological care were usually referred to Amin. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported there have been two referrals for hysterectomies from the facility since 2018 and denied any misconduct.

“Detainees are afforded informed consent, and a medical procedure like a hysterectomy would never be performed against a detainee’s will,” said Dr. Ada Rivera, medical director of the ICE Health Service Corps.

Interviews with some of the detainees paint a less benign picture. Two women spoke anonymously to AP, fearing retaliation, one who said she received a hysterectomy and the other who refused the surgery.

Medical records confirm the first woman went to Amin, and lab results showed early signs of cancer. Amin’s notes state she agreed to a hysterectomy 11 days later, but she told Andrew Free, a lawyer investigating the claims, she was pressured by Amin and “didn’t have the opportunity to say no” or consult family members prior to surgery.

The second woman needed treatment for heavy bleeding and subsequently was referred for a psychiatric evaluation. She said she “saw someone else after they had surgery and what I saw scared me.”

Pauline Binam, a third Amin patient, said she received a surgery to which she did not consent. Her attorney said she went in for a procedure to treat irregular menstrual cycles, and, instead, one of her fallopian tubes was removed while she was unconscious.

“She was shocked and sort of confronted him on that — that she hadn’t given her consent for him to proceed with that,” he said. “The reply that he gave was they were in there anyway and found there was this problem.”

It’s still possible to conceive children with only one fallopian tube, but doctors interviewed by AP said the removal was likely unnecessary and definitely should have required Binam’s consent. It was also unclear why they were even operating in that area.

Dr. Julie Graves, a physician in Florida, called it “absolutely abhorrent” and said: “It’s established U.S. law that you don’t operate on everything that you find. If you’re in a teaching hospital and an attending physician does something like that, it’s a scandal, and they are fired.”

A second woman who went on record with the Associated Press, Mileidy Cardentey Fernandez, said she still doesn't know what procedure Amin performed on her -- even after obtaining her medical records.

Amin was involved in a 2013 lawsuit alleging nurses at the hospital presented their treatment plans as Amin’s when billing to Medicare and Medicaid. The hospital paid a fine and Amin was not publicly disciplined.