Sri Lankan detainee Wishma Sandamali’s life could have been saved at three junctures before she died at an immigration facility in Japan in 2021, a doctor said at a court hearing on Wednesday.
Wishma’s death at the facility in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, resulted from a combination of factors including dehydration and starvation, Dr. Masamune Shimo said during the Nagoya District Court hearing on a lawsuit filed by her bereaved family against the Japanese government to seek damages over her death.
Dehydration and starvation had reduced Wishma’s blood circulation and led to a vitamin B1 deficiency, which caused her to develop beriberi heart disease, Shimo said, citing diet and nursing records as well as urine and blood test results. He said she fell into shock, which ultimately led to her death from multiple organ failure.
Shimo said the first life-saving opportunity was when a urine test showed abnormal values indicating a state of starvation, roughly three weeks before Wishma’s death. “It is standard to perform a blood test and provide an intravenous drip” when such results appear, he said.
The doctor also pointed out that Wishma’s blood pressure had become unmeasurable and abnormal deep breathing was observed two days prior to and on the day of her death.
“Measures such as mechanical ventilation and dialysis should have been taken, and it is not unlikely that her life could have been saved at these points as well,” he said.
Wishma was taken into the immigration facility in August 2020 and died in March 2021 at the age of 33.
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