The 52-year old Mumbai native had been on hunger strike in jail for nearly 3 weeks following her Dec 10 incarc... Read More

WASHINGTON: Sometime between Thursday, December 29, when the world shuttered down to end 2011, and Tuesday, January 3, when it reopened after heralding in 2012, Lyvita Gomes drifted into a lonely and terrible death in a Chicago area hospital from self-imposed starvation and dehydration. Apparently, no one in 21st century America is particularly shocked by this. Regretful, yes; alarmed or repentant; no.

The 52-year old Mumbai native, a former Pan Am stewardess and Delta Airlines trainer, had been on a hunger strike in jail for nearly three weeks following her December 10 incarceration arising from charges of resisting arrest in a routine jury summons case.

A timetable of events released by Greater Chicago’s Lake County sheriff’s office on Thursday showed she had been taken into custody on December 12, placed on a suicide watch immediately due to her "making suicidal statements during the booking process," released on December 13 and re-arrested on December 14, at which point she began her hunger strike.

On December 17, county officials moved her to a medical unit "to observe and to validate hunger strike" and determined the next day that she had not eaten for 72 hours. "Hunger strike protocol" was initiated the next day with verbal orders given by doctor to provide her "with additional juices and meal trays and to encourage hydration and nutrition," even as she was produced twice before a judge over the next two days.

Gomes, who is said have lived in the Chicago area from 2004, was brought before the court on charges of resisting arrest when police showed up at her door, as ordered by a judge, to explain her absence in a jury summons case. As an immigrant without citizenship status, she did not have to do jury duty, but ignoring the summons brought the police to her house. Consequently, the jury duty case was dropped, but by this time authorities found her visa had expired and started deportation proceedings. The resisting arrest case also remained.

Mired in this judicial and immigration tangle, Gomes, who was single and had no immediate family in the Chicago area, began a hunger strike in prison. By December 23, she had lost 10 lbs in weight, even as she refused blood work and EKG ordered by doctors; a psychiatrist who examined her on December 24 found her uncooperative with psychological examination but diagnosed her with "psychotic disorder," although he ordered no medications since she was unwilling to discuss treatment options.

On December 27, a physician who examined her noted her to be "alert and oriented...non-toxic in appearance…and in no acute distress…deemed medically stable." But the psychiatrist noted that she was "mentally incapable to participate in her treatment plan." A physical exam the next day showed she had lost 18 lbs from the time she began her hunger strike.

On December 29, still refusing to eat, appearing severely dehydrated and lethargic, she was ordered to be taken to the Vista East Medical Center. The last two entries in the sequence of events released by the county reads:

12/29/2011 – At 1:30pm, Correction’s Lt. Nicholas Kalphas appears in front of Judge George Strickland and secures a Personal Recognizance bond for Ms. Gomes who has already been transported to Vista East Medical Center.

01/03/2011 – Ms. Gomes passes away while in the care of Vista East Hospital .

What happened between December 29 and January 3, not to speak of the bizarre sequence of events before and after her arrest, is something that has roiled Chicago's police, judicial, and hospital system and Gomes’ family and friends, but attracted little attention beyond President Obama's hometown. How a documented immigrant can die of hunger strike and starvation in 21st century America was beyond the imagination of some 200 people, including local officials, who gathered for Gomes’ memorial in a Chicago church on Wednesday.

Lake County administrators insist they did everything right but acknowledged Gomes’ death as "a tragedy felt in equal measure by everyone who had contact with her during her incarceration." Administrators, police, and judiciary are regretful, but they say once Gomes’ was sent to the hospital, they have no idea what happened. The hospital, protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPA) Act isn’t talking.

“It’s heartbreaking. We did everything we could…our doctors even offered to go outside of protocol to get her food,” police spokesman Lt. Chris Thompson told ToI, declining to go into details of the case. “We ourselves don’t know what happened at the hospital.”

Beyond the momentary sorrow in the “system,” all is bureaucratese. "All policies concerning self-starvation cases are being reviewed in an attempt to insure that we are doing everything humanly possible to prevent an outcome such as this," Sheriff Mark Curran said in a statement. The sheriff defended the care she received in jail, saying administrators relied on a medical staff's advice before transporting her to a hospital five days before her death.

But Gomes’ nearest family -- her sister Lyemia and brother-in-law Rodney Fernandes came to the memorial from England -- is not convinced.

Lyvita’s death "has raised the issue of social justice in the world," Fernandes said at a Mass in Most Blessed Trinity Catholic Church."The family and public at large wish to learn the truth about why she died," a local paper quoted him as saying. "Was it because of her ethnic or immigration status or her mental status?"