Deaths from Neglect in Cuban Hospital

(Havana, Cuba) Last week, 26 patients suffered hypothermia-related deaths at the state Psychiatric Hospital in Havana. The dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) initially reported the deaths on Thursday, criticizing the Castro regime for not informing the public. Consequently, the government was prompted to make a statement on Friday.

“The principal people responsible for these events will be brought before the appropriate courts,” President Raul Castro’s government said in a statement read on state television, the first mention of the deaths in Cuba’s state-controlled media.

“In the Havana psychiatric hospital, which has 2,500 beds, there has been an increase in patient mortality during the last week. Twenty-six deaths were reported in total,” the communique said.

While acknowledging the fatalities were linked to prolonged temperatures of 3.6 C (38 F) earlier this week, the statement noted that some of those who succumbed to the cold were elderly and suffered from cancer or chronic heart problems.

So, in its defense the government contends that some of the patients who died were real sick. But they didn't die from sickness, they died from being abandoned in a run-down facility with broken windows which allowed the cold night to engulf them.

According to CCDHRN Chairman Elizardo Sanchez, no international agencies such as the Red Cross have been allowed to critique the Cuban national health system even as "deterioration, especially in regard to the availability of medications, reagents and other basic chemical and provisioning items” is evident.

Sanchez stated that the deaths last week are a result of "criminal negligence." The Cuban government blames the U.S. for deficiencies in its health care system, saying the U.S. trade embargo makes it hard to get medicines and equipment.

Deterioration, criminal neglect and death are words which filmmaker Michael Moore failed to use when he described the Cuban health care system in one of his movies. Maybe Mr. Moore didn't get to assess the entire socialized medicine system or maybe he was just jiving us.

With regard to the Haitian earthquake, a report from the International Journal of Socialist Renewal claims that communist doctors from Venezuela and Cuba were the first to arrive in Haiti after the devastating earthquake while complaining that nobody noticed. Apparently, the Cubans are upset with the American PR machine and the supposed imperialistic aims of the military/industrial complex.

A disparaging shot is taken at "Western news agencies" with special mention of Fox News for minimizing the efforts of the Cuban doctors. It's sarcastically suggested that speakers be placed on the moon so that people will know of Cuban doctors in Haiti.

Companion posts at SocGlory and The Jawa Report.