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An ICE Nurse Revealed That A Georgia Detention Center Is Performing Mass Hysterectomies

On Monday, a nurse at a private immigration detention center in Georgia came forward about a range of dangerous medical practices at a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. According to her, the center has not only ignored COVID-19 protocols, but is actively performing mass hysterectomies on detained people.

The whistleblower, Dawn Wooten, worked at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) — which is operated by LaSalle Corrections — where she allegedly witnessed the company’s refusal to test detainees for COVID-19 as well as spoke to several people who each had their uterus removed as part of an unwarranted hysterectomy procedure. According to the official complaint lodged with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security, Wooten said that the facility was performing hysterectomies on people who reported having heavy menstrual cycles or other more serious pain, but that “everybody’s uterus cannot be that bad.”

“I’ve had several inmates tell me that they’ve been to see the doctor and they’ve had hysterectomies and they don’t know why they went or why they’re going,” Wooten said in the report. She also noted how ICDC consistently uses one out-of-facility doctor, who is responsible for the hysterectomies in addition to accidentally removing the wrong ovary in one patient. “He’s the uterus collector.”

“Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy — just about everybody. He’s even taken out the wrong ovary on a young lady [detained immigrant woman],” Wooten said. “She was supposed to get her left ovary removed because it had a cyst on the left ovary; he took out the right one.”

The complaint was filed on the behalf of Wooten by advocacy groups Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and South Georgia Immigrant Support Network. In their report, Wooten details other malpractices at the facility, including lack of COVID-19 testing for symptomatic patients, as well as a general lack of reporting cases.

The complaint also explains why she decided to come forward publicly: Wooten had been reprimanded and demoted by ICDC when she spoke up about the poor practices at the detention center.

“You put two and two together,” she said. “I’m asking for these things and speaking for these detainees. I’m a problem. I’m being seen and I’m not supposed to be seen or heard. It makes you look like you’re not doing your job.”

This isn’t the first time the United States has forced people — especially people of color — into unwanted sterilization, which is a human rights violation and a form of eugenics, according to the World Health Organization. For more than 70 years, California led the country in sterilizations; during that time about 20,000 people were sterilized against their will in state institutions. In the South, Black women were treated as “practice” for incoming medical students and had been sterilized unknowingly during C-sections. Other times, they were coerced in order to retain welfare benefits. Sterilization was so wide-spread in North Carolina that a bill was passed in 2015 to give victims financial compensation.

Of course, when it comes to undocumented immigrants, who are regularly referred to as “unwanted” “aliens” by the current president, it’s not so surprising that these practices went unreported for so long. One immigrant in the complaint put it best: “This place is not equipped for humans.”

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by Anonymousreply 79September 20, 2020 4:54 PM

This cannot be real.

Can it?

In the age of Trump, I guess anything is possible.

by Anonymousreply 1September 16, 2020 8:32 AM

Fuck duplicate and so fucking long post too.

by Anonymousreply 2September 16, 2020 8:32 AM

Fake

by Anonymousreply 3September 16, 2020 8:40 AM

disgusting if true

by Anonymousreply 4September 16, 2020 9:08 AM

The nurse was interviewed on MSNBC, and reporting was not made just on her word. I don't think it is fake, sadly.

by Anonymousreply 5September 16, 2020 9:10 AM

Why has this story not gotten better traction? It's appalling.

by Anonymousreply 6September 16, 2020 9:50 AM

^because it's bullshit

by Anonymousreply 7September 16, 2020 9:52 AM

Compulsory sterilisation in Sweden were sterilisations without a valid consent of the subject, during the years 1906–1975 on eugenic, medical and social grounds.

Between 1972 and 2012, sterilisation was also a condition for gender reassignment surgery.

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by Anonymousreply 8September 16, 2020 10:01 AM

If the goal is to sterilize women oh, there are far easier ways than hysterectomies. This story rings completely false.

by Anonymousreply 9September 16, 2020 10:19 AM

Thanks, Boris.

by Anonymousreply 10September 16, 2020 10:26 AM

Anyone else notice the article was written to refer to people having hysterectomy rather than women.

by Anonymousreply 11September 16, 2020 10:57 AM

It sounds like this is one doctor who is the problem regarding hysterectomies, and he may not be into eugenics, he may just be a shitty doctor, enabled by a shitty detention center administration. Years ago when I had fibroids and anemia, I was researching solutions and there were articles about doctors who pushed hysterectomies on patients, when there were less drastic solutions available. My own hematologist kept saying, why don't you just get a hysterectomy. I wasn't in a detention center, so I just rolled my eyes and said no.

by Anonymousreply 12September 16, 2020 12:11 PM

[quote]hen it comes to undocumented immigrants

They are not "immigrants". They are invaders. No one wants invaders.

by Anonymousreply 13September 16, 2020 12:19 PM

R13: No one cares about your opinion, Stephen Miller.

by Anonymousreply 14September 16, 2020 12:25 PM

This shit is real.

by Anonymousreply 15September 16, 2020 9:26 PM

Trending on Twitter!

by Anonymousreply 16September 17, 2020 1:32 AM

The doctor is in!

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by Anonymousreply 17September 17, 2020 1:37 AM

R12, having this be only one doctor does not excuse anything. Some doctors are sadists.

by Anonymousreply 18September 17, 2020 1:37 AM

I just cant even process this . I am so ashamed of our country . We truly have shown ourselves for who we really are.

by Anonymousreply 19September 17, 2020 1:42 AM

Per Rep. Jayapal, now on Rachel: Seventeen or eighteen women, all represented by attorneys, claim that they were subjected to medically unjustified surgery. It's likely that more are involved. ICE tried to deport one of the women today.

by Anonymousreply 20September 17, 2020 1:57 AM

This is insane.

All sanctioned by Donald Trump.

We really have turned into Nazi Germany.

by Anonymousreply 21September 17, 2020 2:00 AM

This is sadistic, evil behavor. The 'Nazi label for Dump and his hoard of maggots is well-earned.

by Anonymousreply 22September 17, 2020 3:37 AM

Hysterectomies are major surgery. There should be plenty of documentation of these surgeries occurring. Most youngish women are discouraged from having them. It’s very difficult to be under 40 and get one in the US, even with a related disorder.

Something about this whole thing seems off.

I’d like to know more about the patients, their ages, and any preexisting conditions. The women coming up through from Mexico and Central America most likely did not have access to any kind of reproductive health care and may have developed conditions where a hysto was the only remedy.

by Anonymousreply 23September 17, 2020 3:45 AM

Maybe these women were dangerously anemic and were unlikely to get good follow up, so the doctor used his judgment and did what he thought was best for these patients. My question is how was it even apparent that detainees were experiencing heavy menstruations?

Do you really think Trump reviews the medical charts of every detainee? It’s a stretch to put this one on him!

by Anonymousreply 24September 17, 2020 3:48 AM

Whoever is behind this belongs at Guantanamo, or to be tried for human rights violations at The Hague. Period.

by Anonymousreply 25September 17, 2020 4:28 AM

You're pathetic, R24.

Disgusting apologist.

You belong in Guantanamo, along with your fuhrer.

by Anonymousreply 26September 17, 2020 5:35 AM

We have concentration camps at our boarders. Paid for by us. There have been rapes, "missing" children, forced sterilization by racists, and intentionally spreading deadly Covid 19 to kill. Donald Trump's America. The Nazis have won. For the last 4 years. Our right to vote has also been under assault by Republicans. Time to kill them all. We cannot allow our country to die. Kill the ones killing our country. REPUBLICANS.

by Anonymousreply 27September 17, 2020 6:03 AM

Every republican woman of child bearing age needs to be forcibly sterilized.

by Anonymousreply 28September 17, 2020 6:06 AM

The "doctors" butchering these women need to have their balls chopped off.

by Anonymousreply 29September 17, 2020 6:08 AM

Mass surgical slaughter.. How quaint. Old school Nazism.

by Anonymousreply 30September 17, 2020 6:15 AM

I'm really starting to understand now, how Nazi Germany was allowed to happen.

Little by little, things like his keep happening, and yet we just sit back and watch it happen. And watch it happen. And watch it happen.

And before you know it, we're there.

by Anonymousreply 31September 17, 2020 6:16 AM

I HAVE A KNIFE FOR YOUY CUNT

by Anonymousreply 32September 17, 2020 6:16 AM

Dr. Mengele line 1. Dr. Mengele line 1.

by Anonymousreply 33September 17, 2020 6:19 AM

In any NORMAL time this would be an absolutely horrific scandal. It's just Wednesday in the Trump Administration.

by Anonymousreply 34September 17, 2020 6:20 AM

You know these fucks ENJOY doing it.

by Anonymousreply 35September 17, 2020 6:22 AM

Does anyone in this country actually care what's going on?

by Anonymousreply 36September 17, 2020 6:25 AM

I wonder when we can open the Jewish camps? There's so many out there. It's like they think they're people..

by Anonymousreply 37September 17, 2020 6:25 AM

For those Deplorables doubting the veracity of the story:

[quote] Black nurse speaks out after being identified as ICE whistleblower

Dawn Wooten was a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center. ‘It’s dog-eat-dog in there,’ she said, ‘at the expense of the detainees.’

Dawn Wooten, who was a licensed practical nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center, has prompted calls for a federal investigation into her claims that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center where she worked was performing mass hysterectomies.

Wooten, with the support of attorneys from Project South, filed the complaint on Sept. 14 addressed to the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, as well as the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the department.

The acting director of Atlanta’s ICE field office and the warden of the detention center are also named in the complaint.

Since being named in the complaint, Wooten has spoken out about the conditions that she witnessed.

“I had several detained women on numerous occasions that would come to me and say, ‘Ms. Wooten, I had a hysterectomy. Why?’” she said on MSNBC. “I had no answers as to why they had those procedures.”

Wooten’s complaint also detailed the way that the coronavirus pandemic was being addressed inside the Georgia-based facility.

She told the The Intercept that the center was failing to test detainees, reusing old masks and performing negligent sanitation. Her complaints, she said, led to her demotion from a full-time employee to an on-call nurse.

“When I started talking about the unfairness and injustice,” pressuring staff to conduct more COVID-19 tests, “I was written up,” Wooten said. “It’s dog-eat-dog in there, at the expense of the detainees.”

Wooten, who has sickle cell anemia, fought to keep from working with detainees who had tested positive. Yet, unknowingly, she still did.

Priyanka Bhatt, a staff attorney with Project South, told The Intercept “Ms. Wooten’s whistleblowing disclosures confirm what detained immigrants have been reporting for years — gross disregard for health and safety standards, lack of medical care, and unsanitary living conditions.”

“If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint – including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women – are a staggering abuse of human rights,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “The DHS Inspector General must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint.”

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by Anonymousreply 38September 17, 2020 6:28 AM

ICE is supposed to provide comprehensive health screenings to detainees, including reproductive health care (pap smears, etc) for women. But they would not be the ones doing the surgery. ICE does not employ surgeons. There is no on-site ORs at ICE facilities. All of that would be handled at an area hospital by third party doctors/staff, so that’s where the focus of this investigation should be.

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by Anonymousreply 39September 17, 2020 6:39 AM

Why isn't this the headline on every newscast?

Are they still trying to verify that the story is true?

by Anonymousreply 40September 17, 2020 10:47 AM

R26,

You seem mentally unstable.

I am not a trump supporter by any stretch of the imagination. Your tiny feline brain just needs a target to blame for every bad thing that happens.

by Anonymousreply 41September 17, 2020 10:49 AM

When you read troll posts like R12 and R23, you can totally understand how the “good Germans” gave endless cover to the Nazis.

by Anonymousreply 42September 17, 2020 10:56 AM

This has gotten some traction and has been reported by major newspapers. It’s horrifying

by Anonymousreply 43September 17, 2020 11:18 AM

R39, ICE’s behavior though is very relevant to this. There were many stories and complaints about this doctor. Why did this facility have a relationship with him? He’s seems to have been under contract.

by Anonymousreply 44September 17, 2020 11:21 AM

Barbaric doctors acting in the name of tyrants have always been extant. I guess while not knowing about the Holocaust, a large percentage of certain demographics has never heard of Dr. Mengele, either.

I believe these tales are true. A MAIN WITNESS WAS BEING HUSTLED OUT OF THE U.S., when she was rescued off her plane!

No poor immigrants from Central America seeking asylum here are about to slander a U.S. doctor by calling him "the Uterus Collector" out of whole cloth!

by Anonymousreply 45September 17, 2020 11:38 AM

It hasn't been that long since the Trump Adminstration was illegally blocking access to abortion for ICE detainees. And now they're sterilizing them.

by Anonymousreply 46September 17, 2020 11:56 AM

That’s a good question r44. A thorough investigation needs to be conducted.

by Anonymousreply 47September 17, 2020 12:25 PM

[quote] When you read troll posts like [R12] and [R23], you can totally understand how the “good Germans” gave endless cover to the Nazis.

And reading hysterical reactionaries like r42, you can totally understand how innocent people were burned alive at the stake.

Burn the witch indeed.

by Anonymousreply 48September 17, 2020 12:27 PM

[quote] The Trump administration has become known for its inhumane treatment of migrant women, pregnant people, and other vulnerable populations in the detention system.

[quote] Federal agencies specifically targeted pregnant migrants as part of the “zero tolerance” policy, setting off a chain of events in which hospitals separate mothers from their newborns. Former Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd forced teen migrants to remain in federal custody because they wanted to access abortion care. He took the battle all the way to the Supreme Court, fighting migrants’ constitutional right to abortion because abortion did not gel with his staunch religious beliefs. Lloyd even blocked teens from accessing care when their pregnancies were the result of rape. ICE also covertly changed its policy regarding pregnant people requiring they be detained instead of

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by Anonymousreply 49September 17, 2020 12:47 PM

[quote]“If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint – including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women – are a staggering abuse of human rights,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. “The DHS Inspector General must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint.”

So that QAnon theory about Satanic children eating conspiracy is basically on the money - only it's about the GOP.

by Anonymousreply 50September 17, 2020 1:26 PM

Horrific if true, but the media lie so frequently that I’ve come to just assume that stories like this are untrue.

by Anonymousreply 51September 17, 2020 1:39 PM

Linked is an excellent opinion piece about the history of sterilization of black, brown, and poor people in America.

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by Anonymousreply 52September 17, 2020 1:42 PM

Thanks r52.

by Anonymousreply 53September 17, 2020 3:24 PM

This is real Dr. Mengele stuff, but if true it certainly wouldn't be unique in American history.

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by Anonymousreply 54September 17, 2020 4:06 PM

Yes R54 but this is 2020, not the 1950's!

by Anonymousreply 55September 17, 2020 5:43 PM

[quote]the media lie so frequently that I’ve come to just assume that stories like this are untrue.

The media are reporting on a whistleblower complaint, where do you think the "lies" come in?

by Anonymousreply 56September 17, 2020 5:48 PM

R55, Your point? That we're more advanced somehow? That we didn't kill hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese/ Iraqi civilians via illegal bombings and invasions? That our President didn't withhold pandemic aid from States? That immigrant children haven't been disappeared?

by Anonymousreply 57September 17, 2020 6:14 PM

Moreover, r56, what does r51 mean by "stories like this"? Stories that reflect badly on the Trump Maladministration?

by Anonymousreply 58September 17, 2020 6:16 PM

The article references a woman getting the wrong ovary removed, that a cyst was on the remaining ovary. As a woman who has suffered from cysts, I can tell you they’re not often removed in the first place. Often, they subside on their own, painfully I might add.

And if they were removed, it would be done via laser surgery, probably, leaving a small scar.

I sincerely hope these women aren’t undergoing any barbaric procedures. I just don’t know, something in this article seems off.

by Anonymousreply 59September 17, 2020 6:50 PM

Yes R59, something IS OFF. The women are NOT giving their Consent. Now go back to engaging your brain please.

by Anonymousreply 60September 17, 2020 7:41 PM

R59 is so concerned.

by Anonymousreply 61September 17, 2020 8:48 PM

Let's apply logic:

A hysterectomy is MAJOR surgery. Major, EXPENSIVE surgery... even IF you cut every possible expense to the bone, and risked having women die in recovery. Let's say that at the rock-bottom MINIMUM, a hysterectomy would entail AT LEAST $5,000 in hard costs (supplies, labor, maintenance, etc).

Statistically, a fertile woman can pump out slightly more than one baby per year (occasional twins or triplets, maybe 5 individual babies in 4 years if she has them literally back to back). If you assume she's going to be fertile for 36 years and cranking out babies nonstop the whole time, performing a hysterectomy at age 16 might prevent approximately 45 babies. $5,000 divided by 45 equals $111 per prevented-baby. And if she's older (which means, fewer potential babies), or the cost per surgery is higher, the cost-per-prevented-baby gets even MORE completely shot to hell. It's just not cost-effective, so the entire assertion that it's being done can be discounted based upon logic alone.

Now... if they were accused of inducing MALE detainees to have vasectomies in return for getting moved from a crowded cage with no air conditioning and a toilet bucket into an air conditioned dorm with proper bathrooms, well, THEN I'd believe it... minimal arm-twisting, cheap procedure, and the potential prevention of HUNDREDS of future babies. But that wouldn't get quite the same emotional outrage as the thought of dragging women, kicking and screaming, into an operating room to have their uteri involuntarily cut out.

by Anonymousreply 62September 17, 2020 9:54 PM

R62, you seem to forget that involuntary sterilizations have been performed around the world, and in this country, since the late 19th century/early 20th century. Somehow the alleged cost and seriousness of the surgery has never been an impediment to a government before. In any event, the cost for these alleged procedures would be billed to the government. Since that government is paying millions of dollars to Trump for renting hotel rooms, I don’t think anyone would notice this sort of trivial expense. (The accused doctor, btw, was previously accused of over billing the federal government).

You have also ignored the allegations that at least some of the women were given sedatives without being told that any surgical procedure would be performed on them.

by Anonymousreply 63September 17, 2020 10:11 PM

R62 please cut the justifications. Any gyno doctor up on their medical knowledge, would not do that many hysterectomies no matter the diagnosis. You were right about it being a major operation that's expensive, but that doesn't negate there's something suspicious going on.

Even if it's just a crooked doctor, this doctor operated under this administration -- one that has proven to be abusive towards the detainees. Not too long ago they were called out for tracking menstrual cycles, and now this?

In recent years, research has shown that hysterectomies can cause more problems than that solve (if they solve anything at all.) It is linked to early onset dementia, often leads to weakness, needing surgical mesh to hold up other organs (bladder), doesn't cure endometriosis, obviously renders victims sterile for life, and so on.

There's no excuse -- heavy periods do not justify a hysterectomy. There's plently of other treatments (birth control, pain control, and so on.)

Let's not play dumb by bringing up male fertility not taken away when we talking about a political party that doesn't want women to be treated for ectopic pregnancy (fatal and can't be successful) cause that's "abortion".

It is that far off a stretch when they talk about not wanting them here, but might be on their way out with the election?! They could've seen this as an easy way to ensure they can't reproduce if they end up staying, or have an (American) baby while detained. I could even see them covering up sexual abuses after how they've treated detainees.

by Anonymousreply 64September 18, 2020 12:19 AM

The doctor involved was sued by U.S. government for performing unnecessary medical procedures on pregnant women; he settled the charges for over $500,000. Yet this facility hired him to treat detainees, and did not respond to complaints about him.

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by Anonymousreply 65September 18, 2020 12:44 AM

[quote] Any gyno doctor up on their medical knowledge, would not do that many hysterectomies no matter the diagnosis.

I in 3 American women over 60 has had a hysterectomy. Going by the reported numbers (5 alleged hysterectomy patients out of 1300 female detainees), this doctor was underperforming the procedure.

by Anonymousreply 66September 18, 2020 1:02 AM

Are you for real R66 ? Or are you a trumpkin ? Or such a contrarian you just cant agree with anyone about anything ?

by Anonymousreply 67September 18, 2020 1:05 AM

R67, yeah, I think we know who R66 is: someone who can't argue anything. These women are illegal immigrants--refugees, if you will; they're not going to be in their sixties. And the claims, which have been brought only by women with legal representation, go well beyond five hysterectomies. Other destructive surgeries have been alleged as well.

by Anonymousreply 68September 18, 2020 1:16 AM

The Onion:

Conservative Evangelical Asks God To Give Her Strength To Incorporate Forced Hysterectomies Into Belief System

by Anonymousreply 69September 18, 2020 1:22 AM

Some really Nazi people post here.

by Anonymousreply 70September 18, 2020 3:59 PM

There are now more allegations about improper gynecological treatment. One woman, in intense pain after a miscarriage, refused to see the prison gynecologist because she was terrified of him based on the stories she had heard.

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by Anonymousreply 71September 18, 2020 8:29 PM

This is TRUE. As horrible as it is.

by Anonymousreply 72September 18, 2020 8:31 PM

B-b-b-but that doesn't sound right, R71, something sounds "off," derp derp derp.

by Anonymousreply 73September 18, 2020 9:55 PM

Is there an easy way to tell if there's just one nazi apologist trying to soft peddle his wares here? Judging by the similar attempts at 'subtlety' it's just the one dude.

by Anonymousreply 74September 18, 2020 10:25 PM

Block the poster (press the orange button of the person with a strike-through) then look at the posters you’ve blocked (press the green button at top of the screen with the strike-through).

by Anonymousreply 75September 18, 2020 10:30 PM

[quote] This is Brian, he came armed to the Georgia detention center sterilizing immigrants to intimidate protesters and yell slurs. I embarrass him to the point where he gets confused and tells me I’m hot. He put hands on protesters and the ICE agents knew his name

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by Anonymousreply 76September 20, 2020 3:26 AM

Sad!

by Anonymousreply 77September 20, 2020 3:30 AM

He's not even a board certified OB-GYN

by Anonymousreply 78September 20, 2020 4:51 PM

Oops forgot the link above

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by Anonymousreply 79September 20, 2020 4:54 PM
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