Al Odah v. United States

406 F. Supp. 2d 37, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40684, 2005 WL 3214107
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 8, 2005
DocketCiv.A. 02-0828(CKK)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 406 F. Supp. 2d 37 (Al Odah v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Al Odah v. United States, 406 F. Supp. 2d 37, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40684, 2005 WL 3214107 (D.D.C. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KOLLAR-KOTELLY, District Judge.

Although an emergency motion to amend the present Motion for Preliminary Injunction was raised orally by Petitioner A1 Odah’s counsel during a joint conference call on November 8, 2005, requesting that Petitioner Al Odah be transferred via immediate medical evacuation to another medical facility based on a further decrease in his weight and altered potassium levels since the pleadings presently under review were filed, the Court will treat Petitioner A1 Odah’s request for immediate medical evacuation separately from the filed pleadings in this Motion for Preliminary Injunction.

Petitioners Fawzi AI Odah and Abdulaz-iz A1 Shammari filed [260] Plaintiffs-Petitioners’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction to Compel Defendants-Respondents to Provide Access to Medical Records, Timely Reports, and Direct Communications with Family Members Regarding Two Force-Fed Plaintiffs-Petitioners who are in Danger of Dying, and Request for Expedited Consideration (“Motion for Preliminary Injunction”) on October 21, 2005, 1 asking the Court to compel Respondents to provide access to Petitioners’ medical records, to give timely reports of Petitioners’ medical condition, and to allow direct communications between Petitioners and family members. On November 4, 2005, Respondents filed [270, 271] Respondents’ Notice of Transfer and Supplemental Response to Petitioners’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (Dkt. No. 260), stating that with respect to Petitioner A1 Shammari, “the United States has relinquished custody and [Petitioner has] been transferred to the control of the government of Kuwait.” Resp’ts’ Notice Transí, at 1. Thus Petition *39 er AI Shammari’s requests in the Motion for Preliminary Injunction are rendered moot. After careful consideration of Petitioners’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction, [264] Respondents’ Opposition to Petitioners’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (“Opposition”), and [266] Plaintiffs-Petitioners’ Reply to Respondents’ Opposition to Plaintiffs-Petitioners’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction (“Reply”), the Court hereby denies without prejudice Petitioner Al Odah’s requests.

I: BACKGROUND

Petitioner Fawzi Al Odah is a Kuwaiti citizen presently held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States government as an enemy combatant. Petitioner has participated in a hunger strike since August 8, 2005. Pet’rs’ Mot. Prelim. Inj. at 8.

Petitioner filed a request for a temporary restraining order with the Court on September 19, 2005, seeking judicial oversight and family communications regarding the force-feeding of Petitioner and requesting that the Court hold a hearing allowing Petitioner to present facts to “persuade the Court to order the government to (i) provide it and counsel with periodic reports and access to medical records and (ii) order direct communications with family members.” Petitioner’s request for a temporary restraining order and hearing was denied by the Court on September 30, 2005. The Court’s [254] Memorandum Opinion related to its [253] Order denying Petitioner’s request for a temporary restraining order further details the factual and procedural history surrounding Petitioner’s initial hunger strike-related request for judicial relief.

After the Court denied Petitioner’s request for a temporary restraining order, Petitioner’s counsel visited Petitioner in Guantanamo Bay on October 10, 2005. Pet’rs’ Mot. Prelim. Inj. at 8. Following this trip, Petitioner’s counsel filed the present Motion for Preliminary Injunction on October 21, 2005. While the requests contained in the present Motion for Preliminary Injunction are similar to those contained in Petitioner’s denied request for a temporary restraining order and hearing, Petitioner alleges that Petitioner’s counsel’s visit uncovered “new facts showing that an emergency exists warranting the Court’s intervention [that] have come to light since the Court denied [Petitioner’s] previous request for a temporary restraining order.” Pet’rs’ Mot. Prelim. Inj. at 1.

A. Petitioner’s Allegations

As a general matter, Petitioner states that he “ha[s] fallen into a downward spiral of weight loss, vomiting, and diarrhea that may lead to [his] deat[h].” Pet’rs’ Mot. Prelim. Inj. at 1. Petitioner attributes his present medical condition to improper medical care during his detention. Id. at 3.

Petitioner alleges that the government’s protocols are inadequate and being harmfully applied to Petitioner. Id. at 2. Petitioner alleges that he is being forcibly fed by guards rather than medical personnel. Id. at 1, 2, 9. Petitioner further alleges that the forceful manner in which he has been treated during the insertion of feeding tubes has caused further injury to his health. See id. at 8 (“[A] nurse shoved a tube up [Petitioner’s] nose so quickly that he began choking, bleeding from the nose, and spitting blood.”). In his signed declaration dated October 10, 2005, Petitioner further claims that an anesthetic was not used when his nasal tube was inserted and that the guards inserting such tubes on a regular basis did not wear surgical gloves. Id. at Exh. C ¶¶ 10,12.

Petitioner also alleges that there was a delay in the onset of his treatment. Peti *40 tioner alleges that while he began participating in the hunger strike on August 8, 2005, he did not receive medical care or counseling until August 25 or 26, at which point he “could not move.” Id. at 8. Petitioner furthermore alleges that now that he is being medically treated, he is infrequently examined by physicians despite his symptoms and fragile condition, and that more frequent examination and blood testing is medically necessary. Id. at 2, 9, 12.

Petitioner further alleges that the fact of his extreme weight loss is further indication of his inadequate medical treatment. Id. at 1, 8-9. Petitioner states that his weight has dropped from 139 pounds three years ago to 118 pounds at the beginning of September to 112 pounds at the end of September, which he confirms via the government medical record proffered as Exhibit H. Id. at 8-9, Exh. H.

B. Government’s Response to Petitioner’s Allegations

In their Opposition, Respondents refute Petitioner’s allegations regarding protocols and actual treatment of Petitioner as well as the onset and frequency of care. While Respondents do not refute Petitioner’s weight loss as established in a government medical record by Petitioner as Exhibit H, Respondents maintain that Petitioner has received “comprehensive medical care and that the Guantanamo staff takes medically appropriate and humane measures to preserve the lives and health of detainees engaged in hunger strikes.” Resp’ts’ Opp’n at 4.

Relying on the declarations of Major General Jay W. Hood and John S. Edmondson, M.D., Respondents state that the policies and procedures applied to treating hunger-striking detainees are actually “applied and followed in a humane and effective manner.” Resp’ts’ Opp’n at 4.

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Bluebook (online)
406 F. Supp. 2d 37, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40684, 2005 WL 3214107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/al-odah-v-united-states-dcd-2005.