Asylum seeker's death: family lawyer expects coroner to order inquest
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Version 0 of 1. Lawyers for the family of a dead asylum seeker expect the Queensland coroner to declare the matter a death in custody and order an inquest. Hamid Kehazaei, who had been detained at the Manus Island detention centre, had his life support turned off at a Brisbane hospital last week. The Iranian had been airlifted from Papua New Guinea after developing severe septicaemia from an infected cut foot. A solicitor, Ruth Hudson, who is representing Kehazaei’s family in Iran, said an announcement from the coroner was expected shortly. “We’ll be looking at whether the initial diagnosis was adequate, whether he received appropriate and timely treatment and was transferred quickly, as he should have been,” she told ABC radio on Monday. Kehazaei’s treatment is the subject of a review by the immigration department’s chief medical officer. The immigration minister, Scott Morrison, insists that Kehazaei was provided with “outstanding” medical care. Hudson said the family want justice for their son, flagging they may seek compensation. She said the focus of the family of Kehazaei, 24, was on whether he received proper care. “Documentation in respect of what happened prior to Hamid coming to the Mater hospital in Brisbane is yet to be forthcoming,” she said. Morrison described Kehazaei’s death as a very sad incident, noting about 1200 Australians die each year of septicaemia. He also noted that incidents of septicaemia were much higher in tropical areas. “We need to look calmly at this,” Morrison told Macquarie Radio. |