U.S. hospital attempts to deport infant with DS
November 10th, 2008From the New York Times:
In a story about the haphazard way in which the American health care system handles cases involving uninsured immigrants, the New York Times documents efforts by an Arizona hospital to deport a baby with Down syndrome and a heart problem to Mexico against his parents’ wishes. The baby, Elliott Bustamente, was an American citizen born at University Medical Center in Tucson.
A hospital spokeswoman said the hospital believed Elliott’s parents to be residents of Mexico, and therefore decided to transfer him to his “community of residence” for continuing care. The baby’s parents challenged the decision through the Mexican consulate, a lawyer and the police. Eventually, after the Arizona Medicaid system approved the baby for coverage, the hospital dropped its effort to send him to Mexico.
“The medical pretext for the transfer disappeared once they found the money,” said Fernando Gaxiola, the family’s lawyer.
Other stories include a legal immigrant from Mexico who was sent across the border by a Phoenix hospital, a man from China who had a stroke and is being cared for in a Manhattan hospital, and an Oklahoma City hospital that discharged a brain-injured patient from Honduras to a relative who was ill-equipped to care for him. Hospitals see themselves as stranded at the crossroads of a failed immigration policy and a failed health care system.
Our RSS Feed
November 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
I am ashamed, and madder’n'hell. Ashamed of some people in my own health care profession — some hospital officials and fellow doctors. Madder’n'hell about what happens to people with a disability and poor and of a different ancestry. The only saving grace is that other people in my profession oppose this practice.