supplies shall be proper for the medical care and treatment of sick prisoners,
and there shall be a staff of suitable trained officers.77
64.
In this regard, the Court notes that, in accordance with the expert
report of Mr. Hans Petter Hougen and Önder Özkalipci rendered in this case
(supra para. 20), if Mr. Vera Vera “had been subject to an adequate physical
examination in the police medical unit, the doctor responsible should have
objected [sic] to the discharge of [the alleged victim] and [...] would have
returned [Mr. Vera Vera] immediately to the hospital, particularly [given that]
there was no way for him to receive the proper monitoring in the detention
center [given his] condition.”
65.
In addition to the foregoing, it is not clear from the body of evidence
that Mr. Vera Vera was subject to special medical examinations at the time he
was admitted at the Police Unit. The Court notes that without the necessary
equipment, radiographic equipment in particular, to detect complications that
could require treatment and supervision by specialized doctors, the doctor of
the Police Unit concluded that the extraction of the bullet lodged in Mr. Vera
Vera's side was not necessary, and thus Mr. Vera Vera was not taken to the
hospital until five days later, upon showing signs of complications (supra
paras. 55 and 62). All this occurred despite what was stated in the report and
recommendations of medical experts appointed by the Second National Police
Commissioner after the completion of Mr. Vera Vera’s medical examination
(supra para. 59). Therefore, the Court finds that the medical care received by
Mr. Vera Vera in the police station was negligent.
B.2.4. Second admission at the Public Hospital of Santo
Domingo de los Colorados, transfer to the Eugenio Espejo
Hospital of Quito, and subsequent death of Mr. Pedro Miguel
Vera Vera
66.
The Court notes that it was not until April 17, 1993, at approximately
13:00 hours, that Mr. Vera Vera was transferred again to the Hospital of
Santo Domingo de los Colorados,78 where he remained until April 22, 1993.
During his second admission in that hospital, he was diagnosed with “acute
traumatic abdomen,” “[i]njury caused by the projectile of a fire arm to the left
hemothorax” and “sepsis.”79 Pursuant to the statement of Ms. Vera Valdez
rendered during the public hearing (supra para. 21), at this stage of medical
care, “her son was in poor shape, he no longer ate [nor] slept [and,] was
handcuffed to a hospital bed, and was unable to relieve himself.” Moreover,
77
Rule 22(2) of the the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners,
adopted by the First United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders,
held in Geneva en 1995, and approved by the Economic and Social Council in its resolutions 663C
(XXIV) of July 31, 1957 and 2006 (LXVII) of May 13, 1977.
78
Cf. Clinical history of Pedro Miguel Vera Vera, Second Internment, Emergency Services,
Hospital of Santo Domingo de los Colorados (case file of annexes to the application, annex 14,
folio 48).
79
Official letter 123-DHSD-93 addressed to Elsie Monge, President of the CEDHU, signed
by the Director of the Hospital of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, of July 13, 1993, to which the
clinical history no. 100036 is attached, of the Internal Medical Services (case file of annexes to
the brief of pleadings and motions, annex 14, folios 572 to 574).
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