The wife of a man who died in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility has brought civil rights claims against a detentions operation coordinator for not seeking out additional medical treatment for her husband.

The man who died was a 34-year-old Chinese immigrant living in New York. He was taken to an ICE detention facility for immigration violations. In 2008, he died of advanced liver cancer just one week after meeting with the detentions operation coordinator in question.

The coordinator is the only federal official specifically named in the lawsuit. Recently, he asked a judge to have his name removed. He argues that he could not have known how severe the man's condition was because he is not a medical professional. However, the widow's attorney says that the man was so obviously sick that anyone would have been able to tell that he needed extra medical attention.

The man was taken to an ICE detention office to meet with the coordinator one week before he died. The meeting was apparently set up because the man's attorney was making frequent calls to the detention center. The man was brought to the meeting in a wheelchair, and complained to the coordinator about the medical care he was receiving at the detention center.

An autopsy was completed after the man's death. It showed that the cancer had spread from his liver to other parts of his body. He also had a fractured spine.

At issue is whether or not the detentions operation coordinator showed deliberate indifference towards the man. The judge presiding over the case has not yet made a ruling.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, "ICE officer wants RI detainee death case dropped," Jan. 18, 2012