Peace Corps volunteer Bea Heiderman died after botched medical care, family to get $750K

The Peace Corps agreed to a record $750,000 legal settlement in recent weeks over allegations it botched the medical care of a volunteer leading to her 2018 death.

Lawyers for the family of Bernice “Bea” Heiderman, of Inverness, Illinois announced the result of a lawsuit filed in 2020 this week.

Heiderman, a volunteer in the tiny island country of Comoros, had complained of dizziness and nausea and was told by a local doctor to drink water and take aspirin. She died a week later.

While deaths at the agency remain rare, tragic mishaps and lack of medical care have put pressure on the agency to improve protocols for volunteers and staff serving abroad.

In recent years, the agency that aims to promote “world peace and friendship” has been plagued by a series of volunteer sexual assaults, murders and a staff member that went on a fatal drunken driving spree in Tanzania.

After Heiderman's death, testing revealed she died of treatable malaria. A Peace Corps Inspector General report concluded the agency failed to follow standard protocols and never ordered a blood test.

“The Peace Corps was wrong – and I think the agency knows it,” Adam Dinnell, a Houston attorney handling the case, said in a prepared statement. “Holding the agency accountable for its tragic missteps in this case can hopefully prevent situations like this from happening again.”

The Peace Corps issued a statement this week about the settlement calling Heiderman a “remarkable volunteer who was admired by her students and community in Comoros.” The agency maintains “the health and safety of our volunteers is of the utmost importance.”

Who was Bernice Heiderman?

Heiderman, 24, had wanted to join the Peace Corps since high school and applied while studying at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She taught English at a middle school in Comoros.

She fell ill on New Year’s Eve 2017 and was prescribed aspirin, an antacid and rest. As her condition worsened the local doctor sent her to a hotel on a medical hold and told an assistant to administer an IV.

That assistant, a dental technician by training, repeatedly failed to find a proper vein, according to the suit. Heiderman was found deceased in the hotel bathroom on Jan. 9.

Her mother, Julie Heiderman, issued a statement about the settlement, expressing relief that the Peace Corps finally accepted responsibility: “That’s what we’ve wanted all along – that the Peace Corps thinks twice before it treats other families like this.”

Other Peace Corps volunteers have died with substandard care

Volunteer Nick Castle died while serving in China in 2013 after receiving substandard medical care.

After a mysterious gastrointestinal case left Castle unresponsive in the city of Chengdu, the Peace Corps hired an outside expert to examine what happened.

The review found that despite poor care, the death could not have been prevented. However, an investigation by the New York Times the following year raised new questions about how the agency responded to the volunteer’s illness. 

In October 2018, President Donald Trump signed the Sam Farr and Nick Castle Peace Corps Reform Act. (Farr is a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Congress until 2017).

The law expands oversight of medical staff and health care coverage for volunteers injured during service and requires the Peace Corps to train host families on sexual assault awareness and prevention. The Peace Corps inspector general found that before the law, only 21% of Peace Corps staff said they provided such training.

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Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team. Contact him at npenz@usatoday.com or @npenzenstadler, or on Signal at (720) 507-5273.