Hospital deports illegal brain injured patient

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090723/...al_deportation

Fla. hospital defends secretly deporting patient
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, AP Hispanic Affairs Writer Laura Wides-munoz, Ap Hispanic Affairs Writer – 21 mins ago

STUART, Fla. – All sides agree on one thing in the case of a South Florida hospital that secretly repatriated a seriously brain injured patient back to Guatemala.

During the early hours of a steamy July 2003 morning, Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and sent Luis Jimenez back to the Central American country without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala — even as his cousin and legal guardian, Montejo Gaspar, frantically sought to stop the move.

There, things get murky. Gaspar is suing the hospital for essentially deporting Jimenez, who was an illegal immigrant. The hospital, which spent more than $1.5 million on his care over three years, says Jimenez wanted to go home.

Underlying the dispute is the broader question of what do Americans expect a hospital to do with a patient who requires long-term care, is unable to pay and doesn't qualify for federal or state aid because of his immigration status. Health care and immigration experts across the country are watching the case, which could set precedent in Florida and possibly beyond. Lawyers for Jimenez said this appears to be the first time a lawsuit has been filed in such a case.

In closing arguments Thursday, a lawyer for Gaspar and Jimenez said the hospital wanted to send Jimenez back to Guatemala to halt what would have been a long and expensive appeals process.

"The plan was designed once and for all to stop the meter from running, to stop the expenses ... to stop the case from going all the way up to the Supreme Court — because Luis Jimenez was gone," attorney Jack Hill told a packed courtroom in the sleepy South Florida town of Stuart, just north of the exclusive community of Palm Beach.

The case also raises the question of whether a hospital and a state court should be deciding whether to deport someone — a power long held by the federal government.

"Regardless of the decision, it will heighten the awareness of hospitals nationwide. The next time they debate shipping a patient overseas, they're going to have to do their homework because it's going to leave them open to a lot of legal challenges and questions," said Steve Larson, an assistant dean at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and medical director of a nonprofit clinic for Latino immigrants.

But Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association, says hospitals may become even more wary about providing extended care to uninsured immigrants.

Hospitals are already struggling under the staggering costs of treating the nation's roughly 47 million uninsured. Illegal immigrants make up an estimated 15 percent of this group, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

"I think they'll do what's required according to physician orders," she said, "but I think they will be more pro-active and aggressive in finding a discharge plan."

Like millions of others, Jimenez, now 37, came the U.S to work as a day laborer, sending money home to his wife and small children. In 2000, a drunk driver crashed into a van he was riding in, leaving the robust soccer player a paraplegic. For more than a year he lingered in a vegetative state before he began to recuperate, eventually reaching a fourth grade level in cognitive ability. The hospital sent him to a long-term care facility for a brief stint, but eventually he was returned to the hospital for care.

Because Jimenez has diminished capacity to make decisions, Gaspar was named as his legal guardian. Initially he supported Jimenez's return to Guatemala, but after a court-appointed attorney for Jimenez questioned whether any hospital there could take him, Gaspar grew concerned.

Then, armed with a vague letter from the Guatemalan minister of health stating the poverty-ridden country could care for Jimenez, the hospital got a county judge to OK the move.

While Gaspar sought an emergency order to stop the move so he could appeal the decision, the hospital put Jimenez on a $30,000 charter flight home.

Gaspar eventually won his appeal, with the court ruling a state judge doesn't have the power to decide immigration cases. By then, it was too late. Jimenez had been released from the Guatemalan hospital and was living with his 73-year-old mother in a one-room home in the mountainous state of Huehuetenango — a steep hike from the village center and 12 hours from the Guatemalan capital.

Jimenez's lawsuit seeks nearly $1 million to cover the estimated lifetime costs of his care in Guatemala, as well as damages for the hospital's alleged "false imprisonment" of his cousin.

A South Florida Roman Catholic priest described a visit to Jimenez in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "He was clean, glad of the visit and occasionally made apparently good sense comments," wrote the Rev. Frank O'Laughlin. "It seemed that he was cooperating with his caregiver and would survive, I guessed, until his first pneumonia."

O'Laughlin said he wasn't sure that Jimenez should be returned to "medical care in an alien Florida institution."

But he said the lawsuit is important because hospitals should not be allowed to deport people.

He and Larson also say a country that relies on cheap immigrant labor for everything from agriculture, to clothing to construction, should factor in the cost of catastrophic injuries to those providing these essential services — whether it means requiring employers to offer coverage for day laborers or ensuring public and nonprofit hospitals can care for them.

Carla Luggiero, a senior associate director for American Hospital Association, said that cases such as Jimenez's are rare. Most of the time, hospitals are able to work with the families to find acceptable care.

And most of the time families don't have pro bono lawyers working for them as Jimenez does.

But she also warned the issue is serious, and it is one Congress has yet to address in its health care reform proposals.

"There is absolutely no discussion about it," Luggiero said. And yet, hospitals that receive Medicare reimbursements are required to provide emergency care to all patients and must provide an acceptable discharge plan once the patient is stabilized.

"It's a complicated, huge issue. Without repatriation, the issue of undocumented immigrants is already a hand grenade and so is health care," Larson said. "So together, you're really walking a tightrope."

keyword is "secretly"

The hospital is done. They tought they could get away with it because nobody gonna give a shit about this immigrant. Even if they do, what are they gonna do, sue??? :lol

He was an illegal immigrant who already racked up 1.5 million in unpayable medical bills...

The real question, if he was hit by a drunk driver, why isn't that guy footing the bill?

Good. GTFO.

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sent Luis Jimenez back to the Central American country without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala — even as his cousin and legal guardian, Montejo Gaspar, frantically sought to stop the move.

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Why was he frantically fighting to stop the move if they never told him about it?

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

Why was he frantically fighting to stop the move if they never told him about it?

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He's a psychic.

Guatemala has an extensive, universal public health system.

This was a good move for the patient; out of our system, into a much more fair, humane one. I don't understand the problem.

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Originally Posted by 101A

Guatemala has an extensive, universal public health system.

This was a good move for the patient; out of our system, into a much more fair, humane one. I don't understand the problem.

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He's not actually suing to come back...

I also found interesting what the lifetime cost of care is for a brain injured 37 year old in 'a much more fair, humane system'.

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Originally Posted by article

Jimenez's lawsuit seeks nearly $1 million to cover the estimated lifetime costs of his care in Guatemala, as well as damages for the hospital's alleged "false imprisonment" of his cousin.

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Originally Posted by nkdlunch

There, things get murky. Gaspar is suing the hospital for essentially deporting Jimenez, who was an illegal immigrant. The hospital, which spent more than $1.5 million on his care over three years, says Jimenez wanted to go home.

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:wow

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Originally Posted by ElNono

I also found interesting what the lifetime cost of care is for a brain injured 37 year old in 'a much more fair, humane system'.

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God Willing, this country will be more like Guatemala someday.

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Originally Posted by 101A

Guatemala has an extensive, universal public health system.

This was a good move for the patient; out of our system, into a much more fair, humane one. I don't understand the problem.

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sure. But the hospital "secretly" sending him back is a terrible move for the hospital.

They thought nobody gave a shit about this poor wetback. Boy they were wrong.

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Originally Posted by hater

sure. But the hospital "secretly" sending him back is a terrible move for the hospital.

They thought nobody gave a shit about this poor wetback. Boy they were wrong.

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Nobody does give a shit about him... You think anyone other than his family really cares, beyond this being an example of the plight of the poor illegal alien in America?

If we aren't suppose to police the world, we sure as hell should not be trying to heal everyone in it either.

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Originally Posted by SonOfAGun

If we aren't suppose to police the world, we sure as hell should not be trying to heal everyone in it either.

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I concur. Can't have it both ways.

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Originally Posted by sam1617

Nobody does give a shit about him... You think anyone other than his family really cares, beyond this being an example of the plight of the poor illegal alien in America?

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yup. I am sure a large majority of the 50 million hispanics in America care about this. get out more often.

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Originally Posted by SonOfAGun

If we aren't suppose to police the world, we sure as hell should not be trying to heal everyone in it either.

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tell that to Bush who sent billions of AIDS money to Africa

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Originally Posted by hater

tell that to Bush who sent billions of AIDS money to Africa

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If I recall correctly, he did a little policing as well.

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Originally Posted by hater

yup. I am sure a large majority of the 50 million hispanics in America care about this. get out more often.

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You think the 50 million hispanics give a shit about him personally?

I highly doubt it.

I think he meant care about the case. It will set precedent.

why would hispanic americans give a shit what precendent it sets?, 15 million illegals might and I for one, dont give a shit about them

The guy should have been sent back to Guatamala a long time ago. $1.5 million in unpaid bills - and we're supposed to feel sorry for him? If he hadn't come here illegally, he'd probably still be WALKING around Guatamala. I have no pity for him at all.

This is going to be weird, but although I am generally very socially liberal, I have to agree with the decision that was made. Maybe have a law that immediate care must be given, but if it is found out that they are illegal, then once they are stable enough to put on a bus or a plane, ship them back.

The part that bothers me the most is that, while yes, he is here illegally, he still got hit by someone driving drunk... Why isn't that guy having to pay the bills?

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Originally Posted by nkdlunch

Like millions of others, Jimenez, now 37, came the U.S to work as a day laborer, sending money home to his wife and small children. In 2000, a drunk driver crashed into a van he was riding in, leaving the robust soccer player a paraplegic. For more than a year he lingered in a vegetative state before he began to recuperate, eventually reaching a fourth grade level in cognitive ability. The hospital sent him to a long-term care facility for a brief stint, but eventually he was returned to the hospital for care.

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Pinche Guatamalans. He left smarter than when he went in so whass the problema?

The fact the guy was driving either without a license or with a fake one is enough grounds for deportation. You simply can't acquire a driver license without papers these days.
The question here is what took ICE so long to ship this guy out once the hospital deemed he was good to travel?

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Originally Posted by SnakeBoy

God Willing, this country will be more like Guatemala someday.

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If we have to go by your daily bitching, we're probably not that far.

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Originally Posted by sam1617

The part that bothers me the most is that, while yes, he is here illegally, he still got hit by someone driving drunk... Why isn't that guy having to pay the bills?

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Welllll - since the guy was here illegally, he probably wanted to keep things quiet - so the ambulance chasers didn't know where to find him. :lmao

Yeah, really, I can't fault the hospital. Definitely a gray area, but they kept him for three f'ing years. That's pretty damn generous.

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Originally Posted by LnGrrrR

Yeah, really, I can't fault the hospital. Definitely a gray area, but they kept him for three f'ing years. That's pretty damn generous.

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Who was paying for his care?

And people wonder why medical is so expensive!

If he's stable, he should be transferred to a hospital in his home country.

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Originally Posted by Yonivore

If he's stable, he should be transferred to a hospital in his home country.

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He was. Didn't you read the OP? :lol

Is it a traditional power of hospitals and US states, to deport indigent aliens?

Here it seems, legitimacy appears in the result and works backward. You like the result, ergo, the matter was properly resolved. Was it?

Isn't deportation a feature of federal power?

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Originally Posted by Winehole23

He was. Didn't you read the OP? :lol

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Nope.

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Originally Posted by Winehole

Is it a traditional power of hospitals and US states, to deport indigent aliens?

Here it seems, legitimacy appears in the result and works backward. You like the result, ergo, the matter was properly resolved. Was it?
[/
Isn't deportation a feature of federal power?

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Being here illegally is a crime. Enforcement at the border is a federal matter. Enforcement elsewhere is anyone's jurisdiction.

Just like bank robbery.

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Originally Posted by Yonivore

Enforcement elsewhere is anyone's jurisdiction.

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This is more wish than fact IMO.

States do not prosecute under federal law.

lol 1.5 mil over 3 yrs.

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Originally Posted by Yonivore

Nope.


Being here illegally is a crime. Enforcement at the border is a federal matter. Enforcement elsewhere is anyone's jurisdiction.

Just like bank robbery.

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I'm pretty sure normal citizens don't have the right to deport people at their will. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if this is the case.

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Originally Posted by LnGrrrR

I'm pretty sure normal citizens don't have the right to deport people at their will. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if this is the case.

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I believe you can still bring someone before a magistrate for the commission of a violent crime, provided you caught them in the act. Of course, you probably expose yourself to some kind of claim for unlawful arrest, kidnapping, or some such. At least in certain states. As for deportation, probably not. But Yonivore will plagiarize a blog for ya.

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Originally Posted by LnGrrrR

I'm pretty sure normal citizens don't have the right to deport people at their will. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if this is the case.

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Lesser of two evils. Get a fine for the improper deportation, or spend millions in support not being reimbursed.

Which is cheaper?

Besides, do we know if he actually requested to go home or not? If he did, what's the issue?

Had he been an Irishman then it would've been a nice human interest story. But he was poor, and brown, so get the fuck out of here.

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Essentially, yes.

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Having been in the business for many years, I salute the social workers of that hospital ;) God knows there is NO money anywhere to transfer a legal American indigent patient anywhere.

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God knows there is NO money anywhere to transfer a legal American indigent patient anywhere.

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Ouch.

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Originally Posted by Yonivore

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Originally Posted by WH23

He was. Didn't you read the OP? :lol

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Nope.

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Honesty becomes you Y-vor. Why pretend you had any idea what you were talking about? Just spout off. :lol