- Coroner finds Mr Mehmood died of natural causes
- No special recommendations made because changes already introduced
- Cardiologist tells inquest Mr Mehmood's low blood pressure reading would almost certainly have prompted further action in a GP surgery or hospital
- RAPAR joins AVID detainee visitors' network in its call for short term holding centre rules to be finalised and published by Home Office
The family of Tahir Mehmood, who died in Pennine House detention centre at Manchester Airport in July 2013, say they cannot understand why a doctor was not called when Mr Mehmood first complained of feeling ill on the day of his death.
Following the completion of the Coroner's Inquest, his brother-in-law Naeem Iqbal Gondal said: “Justice has not been done. We don't think Tahir was treated right at Pennine House and we don't believe details in my brother's first statement, which he gave to the police on the day of Tahir's death, really came out at the inquest.
"When Tahir phoned my brother from Pennine House, he asked him to speak to the nurse and explain to her what he was saying because he couldn't speak English. My brother spoke to the nurse for eight minutes, he told her that Tahir was saying he had a pain in his shoulder and his blood pressure was low and he was struggling to breathe. He told the nurse Tahir needed to see a doctor but she just gave him paracetemol and sent him back to his room.
"We don't think Tahir was taken care of properly when he was ill and we have received no apologies from Pennine House or from the nurse who treated him."
Cheryl Haines, another family member, added: "We feel sorry for other people who are in there. It seems to us, from our experience of what happened to Tahir at Pennine House, that detainees are treated differently from people outside detention. It is frightening.
"People in detention have their human rights just the same as anyone else and we don't feel Tahir was looked after as he should have been. We know we can't bring him back but we don't want this to happen to anyone else or for their families go through what we have been through."
Mr Mehmood's family said they were also upset about the Home Office decision, upheld by a judge at the Immigration Tribunal, not to allow Tahir's wife Misbah entry into the UK in order to attend the inquest. http://www.rapar.org.uk/news--views/wife-refused-entry-into-uk-to-attend-inquest-into-her-husbands-death-in-detention-tahir-mehmood Family members said they bought an air ticket to Pakistan for Mr Mehmood (who had been in the country since 2007 but had overstayed his work visa) to leave the UK on July 28th 2013. But instead they found themselves having to impart the news of his death to his wife and children.
AVID (Association of Visitors to Immigration Detention) has called on the Home Office to publish rules governing short term holding facilities such as Pennine House. https://www.opendemocracy.net/5050/ali-mcginley/detained-at-uk-border-mould-cat-calls-and-barbed-wire
Ali McGinley, Director of AVID, says: “During the Lords' debates about the Immigration Bill 2014 (now Immigration Act 2014), Lord Avebury proposed an amendment to the Bill, calling for the short term holding facility rules to be published and citing a briefing we had done on the issues and gaps.
“The response from the Home Office, in Parliament, was to agree that they were needed and to say they would be published before the 'summer recess'. They did not meet this timeframe.”
AVID has asked about the publication of the rules since this deadline was missed - but was told that “resources” had prevented them from being published.
RAPAR supports AVID and others in their demand for these rules to be published.
Yesterday, on the final day of the five day inquest, Home Office pathologist Dr Charles Wilson said Mr Mehmood died from heart failure due to atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries).
Manchester Coroner Nigel Meadows also heard from Dr Raphael Perry, a consultant cardiologist and specialist in interventionist cardiology who is based at a Liverpool hospital.
Dr Perry said Mr Mehmood's blood pressure reading of 82/44 - recorded when he went to the medical room to see Nurse Yvonne Armriding on the day he died – would have almost certainly led to further action or referral to a doctor if it had happened in a GP surgery or hospital.
He told the inquest the pains in Mr Mehmood's arm could have been attributed to other causes but the low blood pressure reading would “make you think it was strange”. It was “pretty low blood pressure”, he said.
Dr Perry said that the earlier a problem could be identified in such circumstances, the more chance a person had of surviving. It was possible that an ECG, taken at an earlier stage, could have helped identify Mr Mehmood's condition.
Once someone collapsed, there was only a “short window” to take action. The sooner shocks could be administered with a defibrillator, the better. Survival rates were much higher in hospital, where equipment was available, than in the community – although administration of chest compressions and the use of a defibrillator in the first three to five minutes could improve the chances of survival.
The Coroner was told that the Home Office had already responded to recommendations in a report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudman, who investigated the circumstances of Mr Mehmood's death. Responding to a query from Dr Rhetta Moran, of RAPAR, Mr Meadows said he could see no reason why the Home Office should not publicise this response.
The Home Office also asked Dr Salim Meghjee , a consultant in general medicine and respiratory medicine who attends Wakefield Prison, to produce a report into the circumstances surrounding Mr Mehmood's death. Dr Meghjee told the inquest he had made some recommendations – the areas he covered included the keeping of medical records and more access to a GP.
In his narrative verdict, the Coroner found that Mr Mehmood died of natural causes. He was satisfied there had been no breach of Article 2 of the ECHR (the right to life) in this case. After reviewing all the evidence, Mr Meadows said the nurse could have questioned Mr Mehmood more about his symptoms and medical history and kept contemporaneous records, but he did not find that there had been neglect.
The Coroner added that he did not think there had been an unwarranted delay in bringing the defibrillator to Mr Mehmood's room.
Mr Meadows said it was not appropriate to produce a Regulation 28 Report in this case. Procedures at Pennine House have already been changed following Mr Mehmood's death. http://www.rapar.org.uk/procedures-changed-at-detention-centre-following-death-of-tahir-mehmood.html
ENDS
See further links: https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/phil-miller/capita-guard-%E2%80%9C-course-did-not-tell-me-what-to-do-if-someone-is-not-breathing%E2%80%9D
http://www.rapar.org.uk/news--views/men-dad-who-was-set-to-be-deported-to-pakistan-died-at-detention-centre-just-days-before-flight
For more information, please contact Kath Grant 07758386208 or Rhetta Moran 07776264646