Francisco Castaneda says he spent more than 10 months in immigration jails in Southern California pleading for medical help as lesions on his penis grew larger and more painful, but the government’s only response was to free him before it had to pay for a scheduled biopsy.
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
The 35-year-old Salvadoran native, who entered the United States illegally with his mother when he was 10, now says he has terminal cancer that would have been prevented by proper treatment. His cancer was diagnosed immediately after his release from federal custody in February, and his penis was amputated before he began chemotherapy.
Immigration officials are still seeking to deport him, but Castaneda’s lawyers say he will probably die before his case is resolved.
Castaneda filed suit accusing state and federal officials of negligent medical care.
“Government officials imposed a death sentence on Mr. Castaneda, without benefit of judge or jury, by their failure to provide a simple and inexpensive diagnostic procedure to rule out a life-threatening disease,” his chief attorney, Conal Doyle of Oakland, said after filing the suit in federal court in Los Angeles.Castaneda, in a statement released by his lawyers, said he was seeking justice “for all of the detainees who are being ignored when their health or even their lives are on the line.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/02/BAA3T4OSL.DTL
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