Who cares if you're terminally ill... you don't belong here.

Today's post comes from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Dispatches.

It is the story of Luis Jimenez. A Guatemalan man who got hit by car in Fla. He suffered brain damage, however when he ran up the bill, the hospital decided it was best to sent him back to Guatemala. Luis was undocumented see, so he was voiceless and he was just flown back to "where he belongs." This practice is widely known as "patient dumping," though hospitals rather call it "medical repatriation". At the end it's the same. Bottom line is, let others take care of you, you're not our problem. There was a similar story in the La Times a while back but not about illegal immigrants but about homeless people.

In this harsh economic times where the anti immigrant sentiment is growing by wide strides in the country, it has become an easy way out for hospital and physicians to rid of people that obviously have no means of paying for medical expenses. Of all the United States, probably the staunchest supporter of this issue is Arizona which leads in this category.

Luis was left with the mental capacity of a nine year old after the accident which was incurred by a drunk driver. Funny thing is the story on Dispatches at no moment mentions what ever happened to the drunk driver who hit Luis. Instead of investing or rather forfeit millions of dollar caring for Luis, the hospital flew him home to Guatemala and is currently being taken care of by his elderly mother which by the way the only "medicine" she can provide him with is Alka-Seltzer, that's all she can afford.

The New York Times has uncovered many other cases similar to Luis'. The law states any medical procedure, especially of this magnitude, the patient's or the guardians of the patient need to have consent. What happen to Luis was illegal. The hospital however did everything within their power to get rid of him. Now, some lawyer's on behalf of Luis have filed a lawsuit. Hopefully there is a verdict in time for Luis. The case is sure to help other people in similar situations in the future.


The way I see it, at what moment in time did we become a society that stopped caring about the plight of the voiceless. At what moment in time did it become easier to use a specific group of people as a scapegoat and feel is o. k. I don't know what the answer is if there's even one at all or not. I don't see turning the back on people that somehow are the fabric of our society is the answer. I know this is a thorny issue and most people at this moment would like to see all people like Luis begone, be it terminally ill or not, for after all, they don't belong here in the first place.

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