Diabetic medical neglect in any situation when dealing with the state or federal government is real.
There is an unsettling fear when you know if things escalate that your disease will be intentionally weaponized against you.
Even if you tell them, they won’t care. They will claim you are faking it and ignore your pleas for help. This has already happened and has proven fatal.
Hanne Bredal’s disturbing encounter is yet another illustration of the sadism that powers the machine.
Hanne and her husband before the abduction
”Do it the right way”, They did. Many of these cases have a very predictable pattern that can not be ignored. These two are not criminals, they followed the rules, did everything right. Their just reward, their lives turned into a living hell.
One moment they’re smiling. The next, armed ICE agents separate them and drag her away dropping her in a cold hell that her body would nearly succumb to.
Otay Mesa Detention Center: The concrete trap where the nightmare began.
A taxpayer fortress with razor wire decor, chain-linked fences, and indifference woven into the very masonry of the cement that confines.
This is where they arrested her after she signed the papers, they took her lifeline a little life saving device, one that would prevent her sugar levels from violently spiking or dropping.
How could medical staff not know this, it is the most fundamentally basic of being a diabetic. Maintaining, regulating and check your your sugar levels before and after meals.
A foreboding terror that is lived and understood.
Being a diabetic and either not knowing it or not having the right medicine and testing equipment can be and many times is fatal. Was put in a situation where she was forced to wear cement shoes and keep her head above water.
The blood betrays
It turns from the river of life into a hissing, caustic brine. As the pH of the internal ocean plummets, the fluid meant to nourish the organs begins to erode them from within. It is a systemic betrayal, a chemical coup where the body’s own essence becomes its executioner.
Lungs heave in a rhythmic, frantic purge, desperate to blow out the rising tide of poison. This is the Kussmaul gasping, a hollow, labored struggle for air that carries the sickeningly sweet scent of rotting fruit—the literal aroma of the body fermenting in real-time. It is the breath of a metabolic grave.
The kidneys attempt a final, futile cleansing, but in the process, they drain the body’s last reservoirs. The skin turns to parched parchment, the eyes sink into the skull, and the blood thickens into a sluggish, dark syrup. This is a hollow mummification, a drying out of the spirit while the heart still beats.
Finally, the acidic shadow reaches the brain and the lights begin to flicker. Confusion curdles into a heavy, suffocating stupor as the mind is bathed in a liquid that has become more solvent than support. The blackout descends—a final, silent sanctuary before the exhausted machinery of the heart surrenders to the rot.
While this may sound like a visceral and sensationalized description of your body becoming your own worst enemy, please know it is not; it is lived.
Surviving DKA gives you a very unique perspective on life and diabetes. People too often associate the disease with overeating, being lazy, and just not eating right, and that in itself is a dangerous myth.
Freezing and Filth
The dehumanizing conditions that spiked her blood sugar to life-threatening levels.
Overcrowded, filthy, no hygiene, high-carb slop served while she begged for help. This is what turned a minor visa technicality into a near-death experience.
From all the reports, it is clear that the staff on hand at the facility did not know—or knew and did not care. Either way, this apathy could have been fatal.
Type 1 diabetes essentials ICE confiscated and ignored.
Her blood glucose monitor and fast-acting insulin—taken, misclassified as “Type 2,” and replaced with rice, bread, pasta, and cake. This is the medical neglect that almost killed her.
The Ankle Monitor: A Modern Day Scarlet Letter
These visuals are not outliers. Otay Mesa is CoreCivic-run. This is privatized cruelty where medical care is a cost to be minimized and human life is merely collateral for quotas. Hanne survived because she had an American husband and a voice. Thousands without that leverage are still rotting in these same black sites.
Citations
Norwegian Woman Detained: Young Norwegian woman jailed in US over expired visa
Ankle Monitor Industry Origins: From Walls to Shackles: The Big Business of Electronically Monitoring Immigrants
Health and Sanitation Risks: The Guardian: US immigration surveillance and the human cost
CoreCivic and Privatization: CoreCivic Facility Data and Corporate Reports
