"The woman, who was born in central Asia, checked into the hospital with a smart watch on her wrist, said two hospital workers who cared for her during her labor, and whom the Guardian is not identifying to avoid exposing their hospital or patients to retaliation. The device was not an ordinary smart watch made by Apple or Samsung, but a special type that US Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) had mandated the woman wear at all times, allowing the agency to track her."
"The device was beeping when she entered the hospital, indicating she needed to charge it, and she worried that if the battery died, ICE agents would think she was trying to disappear, the hospital workers recalled. She told them that, just days earlier, she had been put on a deportation flight to Mexico, but the pilot refused to let her fly because she was so close to giving birth."
"Her delivery wasn't progressing the way the care team hoped, and she needed a C-section, a procedure that requires doctors to use a cauterizing tool to minimize bleeding. To prevent possible burning and electrocution, patients are instructed to take off all jewelry or metals before the surgery. The mandatory watch had no way to be easily removed, nor was information about whether it would be safe to wear during the procedure readily available."
A nine-months-pregnant woman arrived at a Colorado hospital wearing an ICE-mandated tracking smartwatch that she could not easily remove. The device was beeping and she feared that a dead battery would be interpreted as an attempt to disappear. Days earlier she had been put on a deportation flight but the pilot refused to fly her because of her pregnancy. Her labor stalled and doctors recommended a C-section, a procedure requiring removal of metal for cauterization safety. Hospital staff lacked guidance on the device and how to contact ICE; staff eventually removed it and no agents arrived during delivery.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]