Possible hypothermia in the tropics

The death last week of 26 patients in Cuba’s largest psychiatric hospital has stirred up considerable controversy on the island. Such a high number is extremely rare, but the cause is even less common on a Caribbean island—cold weather. More specifically, Boyeros, the Havana neighborhood where the hospital in located, experienced “prolonged low temperatures that fell to 38 degrees Fahrenheit (4 Celsius).”

The independent Cuban Commission on Human Rights, an illegal but tolerated human rights monitoring group on the island, reported that these individuals had died of hypothermia because the hospital failed to take action to protect them from the unusually low temperatures. The Cuban Health Ministry responded by acknowledging that the death was related to the very low temperatures, but due only to natural causes such as old age, respiratory infections, and complications from cancer and cardiovascular problems.

The government has ignored long-standing requests from international aid groups to tour Cuba’s medical facilities, including this hospital, and the Commission believes that this kind of accountability would right some of the problems in the system. Thankfully, the Health Ministry has already begun investigating the deaths and have found several deficiencies at the hospital like those the Commission on Human Rights had suggested. Such a review, despite the fact that it is a self-diagnosis, is a positive note at the end of a troublesome week.

(Photo: Sven Creutzmann/Polaris)