A Matter of Life or Death
Teri Mills is a longtime Democracy For America community member. Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at nationalnurse.blogspot.com.
Next Tuesday, November 15th, Libya's Supreme Court will rule on whether to overturn an execution order of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian physician who were convicted last year of deliberately infecting more than 400 children at a hospital in Benghazi with the HIV virus. At least 40 of those infected died of AIDS.
Since their arrests seven years ago, the nurses and physician have been subjected to repeated torture to force their confessions of this crime. These health care workers have always maintained their innocence, declaring they had been tortured with daily beatings, sexual assault, and electric shocks by the police in order to obtain their confessions.
As the press and others investigated, they learned the HIV virus was most likely transmitted to these children because of poor hygienic conditions in the hospital, not because of intentional acts by their caregivers. Nursing leaders across the United States including the Center for Nursing Advocacy and the American Nurses Association are taking note, calling for the immediate release of these nurses and physician to their home countries. All nurses, physicians, and health care providers should be fearful of this precedent because it is often necessary to have close contact with our patients in order to provide them with the best outcomes for their well being.
Many countries are rushing to organize humanitarian aid such as medical equipment, medications and treatments for the infected children as a means of resolving the dispute. Even the President has issued a strong statement asking that the nurses and physician be freed. Negotiations have been reported by Reuters quoting Arab diplomatic sources close to the Libyan government as saying the nurses and physician would be asked to pay compensation to a special fund and a charitable organization run by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam as a compromise solution.
With little time remaining before the appeal, we are being asked to add our voices with those calling for release of these workers, who have been so unfairly accused. To learn where to send your letter, visit the website the Center for Nursing Advocacy has set up on the behalf of freeing these health care providers. I hope you will join me today in writing your letter, because truly this is a matter of life or death.
—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon
Alternate link for comments
