Eight years ago, Mr. Jiménez, 35, an illegal immigrant working as a gardener in Stuart, Fla., suffered devastating injuries in a car crash with a drunken Floridian. A community hospital saved his life, twice, and, after failing to find a rehabilitation center willing to accept an uninsured patient, kept him as a ward for years at a cost of $1.5 million.Immigrants Deported, by U.S. Hospitals
What happened next set the stage for a continuing legal battle with nationwide repercussions: Mr. Jiménez was deported — not by the federal government but by the hospital, Martin Memorial. After winning a state court order that would later be declared invalid, Martin Memorial leased an air ambulance for $30,000 and “forcibly returned him to his home country,” as one hospital administrator described it.
Mr. Jiménez’s benchmark case exposes a little-known but apparently widespread practice. Many American hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance. Medicaid does not cover long-term care for illegal immigrants, or for newly arrived legal immigrants, creating a quandary for hospitals, which are obligated by federal regulation to arrange post-hospital care for patients who need it.
Hospital administrators view these cases as costly, burdensome patient transfers that force them to shoulder responsibility for the dysfunctional immigration and health-care systems. In many cases, they say, the only alternative to repatriations is keeping patients indefinitely in acute-care hospitals.
“What that does for us, it puts a strain on our system, where we’re unable to provide adequate care for our own citizens,” said Alan B. Kelly, vice president of Scottsdale Healthcare in Arizona. “A full bed is a full bed.”
Thank you to our government for forcing illegal aliens on us, overburdening our health care system and putting the lives of Americans in danger.
24 comments:
I wonder what Ridgewoodian and Sal would do if they had to go to a hospital emergency room overflowing with illegals? Do you think they would start flashing their health insurance cards and DEMANDING treatment?
WADE NICHOLS--
Ah, my boynapping friend, now who has a love/hate relationship with whom?
As it happens, I once did have to go to the emergency room, late one night when a lingering fever suddenly spiked at 103.6, scarring the hell out of me. And, as it happened the emergency room was full to overflowing. And, as a matter of fact, I never did see a doctor that night. After several hours of waiting and after some folks who were bleeding all over the place were shown a seat, I realized it just wasn't going to happen and so I went home. (I went and saw a doctor the next day and was told to take a couple of aspirin.) It didn't occur to me to go around demanding to see the papers of everyone in the room since:
1) Legal or illegal, they're still human and if they're at the hospital they're probably humans in trouble. And humanity trumps legality.
2) I'm not an asshole.
What DID occur to me was that, as a society, we're not getting very good value for all the billions and trillions we spend on health care.
Anyway, I thought all the illegals are going home now.
Imagine the impudence of the Chinese government: It is issuing a warning to all foreigners (aliens) visiting for the Olympics: While in China, respect Chinese laws.
First of all: I bet that all the aliens in China are legal.
Second: I bet that all the aliens in China just know in their bones without the need for any warning: don't break ANY laws here.
Third: I bet that any alien in China will rather fly back home than to be treated for any serious illness in a Chinese hospital. Other than for a broken arm or toe.
Fourth: I bet that the Chinese government believes it has zero obligation to provide any services for any aliens, and surely would expect all the aliens to speak and read fluent Chinese (in the appropriate dialog) if they want to make demands of the government.
Fifth: I bet that except for a very few militant leftists, there will be no aliens overstaying their visas once the Olympics end.
Sixth: I bet that the mushy-headed open-borders crowd thinks that it great that in the US, aliens are crowding the schools, refusing to learn the English language, and so are disrupting education, the health care system, the jails, the neighborhoods and the streets.
Seventh: the same mush heads would NEVER demand that China change to cater to white, English speaking US Citizens who want to enter China without permission to obtain the fine educational, health, housing services and jobs provided by China.
"if they're at the hospital they're probably humans in trouble."
Or using the ER as their personal physician. They'll never have to pay for it, so why not?
Men...
They always turn to gay jokes in the midst of arguments.
Once again, Ridgewoodian, the willing dupe! He'd volunteer to sharpen the sword of Osama bin Laden, just before bin Laden beheads him! Ridgewoodian is quite the patsy!
What DID occur to me was that, as a society, we're not getting very good value for all the billions and trillions we spend on health care.
Indeed. So why not simply allow a few more million illegals into this country? After all, wealthy guys like you can afford a few more hundred dollars a month taken out of your paycheck to help subsidize the health care of our saintly illegals. While we're at it, why not socialize the health care system, and make it the responsibility of the federal government? I'm sure the government will create a federal agency that will guarantee high standards for all. Only 15 hospitals have been closed in Los Angeles county since 2000, let's try to make it 20!
"I'm not an asshole." - Ridgewoodian, August 3, 2008
Several people on this blog would strongly disagree with you on that statement.
Lastly, good points, Taxpayer!
Ridgewoodian: "After several hours of waiting...I realized it just wasn't going to happen [seeing a doctor] and so I went home."
You just up and left? Did not talk to the nurse or receptionist? No one informed you when you would be seen by a doctor? You went to the hospital - dare we discover which one? - with close to l04 degrees by yourself? Did you walk, take a subway or drive? You went home the same way?
TRIXIE: Men... They always turn to gay jokes in the midst of arguments.
Sorry about that. It was a carryover from another thread where the Wadester had a weird little eruption about the academic discipline of Queer Studies and I had to point out that he had, in fact, named himself after the star of several gay porns, including the above mentioned Boynapped and “the biggest male film event ever,” Manhole. (This same Wade Nichols also starred in straight porn, and, under the name Dennis Parker had a recurring role on The Edge of Night and even recorded a disco album. In other words, he was a much more interesting person than his namesake. Alas, he left this world too young, a suicide.)
WADE NICHOLS: After all, wealthy guys like you can afford a few more hundred dollars a month taken out of your paycheck to help subsidize the health care of our saintly illegals.
You know how everyone likes to blast the MTA, saying it’s badly run and incredibly inefficient? Well, that’s probably true, to an extent. And it’s even MORE true about our health care system. As a country we spent something like $2.5 TRILLION last year and we couldn’t even insure our entire population. That’s just shameful. With some better management we could, very easily.
No hospital is ever going to check someone’s papers before treating them. And if they did they would never refuse them treatment on the basis of their immigration status. That would go against every code of ethics that govern the medical profession and would earn for us the justified moral condemnation of the entire world. So the REAL questions are: How do we keep immigrants (legal or otherwise) from HAVING to use the hospital, and how do we best pay for it when they do? Everything else is just so much nativist wanking.
WADE NICHOLS: While we're at it, why not socialize the health care system, and make it the responsibility of the federal government?
That’s an idea that perhaps bears looking into. There are also other models available to us. In any case, our current system is neither optimal nor sustainable.
WADE NICHOLD: …good points, Taxpayer!
And just what is his point? That we should be like China? We should become a repressive dictatorship whose economic revival is built on slavery? Why, exactly would we want to emulate that?
WADE NICHOLS: I'm not an asshole." - Ridgewoodian, August 3, 2008 Several people on this blog would strongly disagree with you on that statement.
Well, they would be wrong.
GEORGETHEATHEIST: You just up and left? Did not talk to the nurse or receptionist? No one informed you when you would be seen by a doctor? You went to the hospital - dare we discover which one? - with close to l04 degrees by yourself? Did you walk, take a subway or drive? You went home the same way?
It was September 10th, 2002. I remember the date for obvious reasons. I had been “fighting something” for several days but that night it really spiked. I took my temperature and, frightened, I decided to go to the emergency room. I called a friend who lived in the neighborhood to see if he’d go with me and he agreed to. We took a car service to Wyckoff hospital. I spoke to a nurse briefly, and in between bouts of falling asleep she managed to take my temperature and tell me I had a fever. Then a clerk took my insurance information and I was told to take a seat. Meanwhile, my friend had contacted another friend and she showed up. They found me some Gatorade and I drank it to keep up my hydration. We waited for many hours. It got to be three or four in the morning. I obviously wasn’t going to be seen soon. At the same time, though, my fever had clearly gone down. (My friend later told me that at the beginning of the night I had been radiating heat but as it went on I had cooled off.) And I was feeling better. So I decided to go home and go to bed. I think I told the clerk or the nurse that I was leaving. We found a cab or maybe a black car out front. My friends paid for the ride. On the way home they made me promise to see a doctor the next morning, which I did.
Kudos to them for flying his ass back to his country. Surprised it took them 1.5 million before they came up with that.
Can't forcibly deport them? Fine. Dump them on their consulates and make them pay for them (and their parking tickets)
Ridgewoodian said... in a comment to;
TRIXIE: Men... They always turn to gay jokes in the midst of arguments.
Hey RW it's very scary and disconcerting that you know more about this porno star than anyone else here.
I hope people keep their children away from you that's for sure.
Says RW: " So the REAL questions are: How do we keep immigrants (legal or otherwise) from HAVING to use the hospital, and how do we best pay for it when they do?"
Legal aliens are welcome to use our medical facilities.
ILLEGAL aliens can be kept away by the simple expedient of preventing their illegal entry or stay, forcible deportation (after a spell in prison) and incessant raids on employers of illegal aliens (as well as legal aliens who have no right to work).
Punish the employers into poverty.
As for illegals who get past the hospital door? Transport them in their hospital gown to the nearest consulate or embassy (how about the UN lobby?)
Illegal aliens are here ILLEGALLY. We owe them nothing. Let then get their help from the country of which they are citizens.
To argue otherwise, you must first remove all doors and windows from your home. You must substitute a starter button for the keys to your car. You must never refer to your "possessions".
You must, in fact expose your own property and family to all the menaces of invading strangers that you demand of the rest of us.
Then, you'll have a tiny bit of credibility.
FASTER 340: Hey RW it's very scary and disconcerting that you know more about this porno star than anyone else here.
Well, I would ASSUME that our dear old Wade Nichols knows the late Wade Nichols’ work more intimately than I do, since he did name himself after him. (And he still hasn’t answered my question as to why he tried to gay-bait me.) As to how I came by my knowledge of the original Mr. Nichols, it's called Google. As a tech guy I'm sure you've heard of it.
TAXPAYER: None of your natavist fantasies are ever going to come to pass. You’re argumentative, and what’s worse, silly.
I know a family of illegals from Poland. They know how to work the system. First the daughter had to have scoliosis surgery and therapy, then the father had broken arms when a load of sheetrock feel from a truck.(working for a Maspeth contractor- who had no workers comp insurance)
Then the wife needed a full hysterectomy and the son needed 2 foot surgerys in order correct deformites. All on the taxpayer. I asked him who paid - he said "government" Then he throws a gum wrapper on my sidewalk. I asked him why he would litter? He said "they" will clean. Who is they, I asked. "Governemnt" he responded. I said I worked and taxes pay for these services He said I work for cash and dont pay taxes. What is the moral to this story, I am still wondering? And oh by the way he sued the contractor and won a $85,000.00 judgement. Who has it better that an illegal???
And he still hasn’t answered my question as to why he tried to gay-bait me.
Who's the one "gay-baiting"? Every post in the past couple days you've made, you always throw in a mention of how you "discovered" a gay porn star named Wade Nichols, like you've just discovered the Holy Grail or something. Who's the one doing the gay-baiting, me or you?
"TAXPAYER: None of your natavist fantasies are ever going to come to pass. You’re argumentative, and what’s worse, silly."
The above is a "rebuttal" from RW. All the misspellings and grammar errors are his own; I would never tamper with another person's own words. Perhaps RW is attending school with the illiterate illegal aliens.
What did it rebut? You ask.
Nothing at all. It was denial babble.
To folks like RW, stating uncomfortable facts is "argumentative". Now, we all know that's a silly notion.
Illegals are self-deporting in large numbers because of the increasing number of ICE raids on illegal employers. And, the economy is not improving the tolerance of the citizens here.
Have you removed all your doors, thrown away all your keys, and painted sign on all your possessions offering them all to one and all?
No?
Then, you know it well, you're a crock.
WADE NICHOLS: Who's the one "gay-baiting"?
You were the one who brought up, out of nowhere, the subject of “oxymoronic” Queer Studies in a discussion about “anchor babies.” And I seem to remember another thread where you were making insinuations about my “proclivities.” OF COURSE I was highly amused to find out who you had named yourself after. Not to play psychologist here, but you’re fucked up, dude.
TAXPAYER:All the misspellings and grammar errors are his own...
Ah, you are right, it should be NATIVIST. I should have spellchecked. What can I say – even Homer nods occasionally.
My grammar wasn’t incorrect, though.
I didn’t “rebut” you because I know that your “arguments,” such as they are, are too silly to warrant my time – and I would wager that you do, too.
But I’ll tell you what, when you can certify to me that you engage in absolutely no commerce with any business that employs illegal immigrants, or that itself deals with other businesses that employ illegals – when you can prove to me that all the fruit you eat was raised and picked legitimately, that any contractors who built any buildings you might enter hired only legal workers, that your children’s nanny, if they have one, is in this country legally, that the dishwashers and servers and cooks at your favorite restaurants all have their papers in order, & etc. & etc. – in short, if you can show to my satisfaction that you don’t benefit from illegal labor in any way, either directly or indirectly, or support it in any way whatsoever, then I’ll talk to you about giving away all my possessions. Until then you’re as big a hypocrite as you accuse me of being.
(By the way, one possession I don’t have is a car: I’m not dumb enough to drive in this city on a regular basis.)
OF COURSE I was highly amused to find out who you had named yourself after. Not to play psychologist here, but you’re fucked up, dude.
The simple explanation is that I have a well developed sense of humor, and am comfortable in my skin to use a nom de plume which references a 70's disco singer/soap opera star/and gay porn star who tragically committed suicide. You also conveniently failed to mention the Norwegian DJ Todd Terje, who also uses the Wade Nichols moniker on many of his record releases.
As for you, you want to have it both ways - you like exhibiting your politically correct bona fides by accusing me of homophobia. But at the same, you constantly reference the gay porn movies that my namesake was in, in an apparent crude attempt to lure other readers of this blog into ribbing me. Your ultimate goal is: 1.) have other readers "rip me a new a-hole", and at the same time, 2.) you can accuse them of "homophobia" as well. For you, it's a "win-win" situation.
But, unfortunately for you, the readers of this blog are much too sophisticated and discerning, and won't fall into your traps so easily. They have better things to do with their lives, and really don't give a rats ass!
But I’ll tell you what, when you can certify to me that you engage in absolutely no commerce with any business that employs illegal immigrants, or that itself deals with other businesses that employ illegals.....
When you can certify that: all the products that you use in your life were produced by workers that received a "living wage"; all the products you use that were produced in China were not made by slave/prison labor; all the coffee you drink is from "fair trade beans"; you have a "zero carbon footprint"; none of the products you buy are from companies that do business in Sudan; and that you are willing to give up you job to a member of a "protected minority group" so as to show your true commitment to the principles of affirmative action, then we'll talk.
And one additional comment to the blithering, blundering buffoon who goes by the name of Ridgewoodian.
You certainly enjoy exhibiting your "moral superiority" over us "Archie Bunkers"/"Know Nothings"/"Nativists" on this blog. But I recommend you take a gander at the "Readers' Comments" section which accompanies the article on the NY Times website. Many of the comments in fact are the same opinions expressed on Queens Crap, and to be fair, many comments also are in line with the "NY Times party line". If you're so concerned about "Know Nothing" attitudes towards illegal immigrants, why don't you go after the "big fish" comments on the NY Times, rather than settle for the "small fish" here?
http://community.nytimes.com/article/
comments/2008/08/03/us/03deport.html
CEASE FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Says Wade:
"And one additional comment to the blithering, blundering buffoon who goes by the name of Ridgewoodian."
Buffoon? Not exactly. Or, at least not only a buffoon.
RW thinks (if that's his mental operation) that by typing incessant drivel, eventually, like the infinite monkey theory, he'll actually stumble on an honest word or two.
RW has no capacity to engage in dialog. He fails to address any point with a counterpoint. Calling names is a sign of laziness. He's never been challenged. The people to pity are his wife, children, or those compelled to be in his yammering company. Can you imagine what he does when they answer back? He prefers to hammer the keys, emitting annoying words and phrases. This passes for today's intellectual superiority.
He needs help.
RW thinks (if that's his mental operation) that by typing incessant drivel, eventually, like the infinite monkey theory, he'll actually stumble on an honest word or two.
HA!!! I love that line!
I suppose if Ridgewood were left alone at his keyboard like the proverbial monkey for a couple million years, he would eventually hammer out a few acts of Shakespeare!
why can't we all just get along?
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