After medical personnel plunged an illegal woman into a coma, administrators at a hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, risked her life and forced her to the Dominican Republic despite her husband’s objections. I am trying to repatriate. The hospital is pushing for its decision, known as medical deportation. technically illegalbecause the federal government has the exclusive power to remove individuals from the United States
“If I put her on a plane, my wife will die. They haven’t even put back the part of the skull that they removed from her to ease the swelling in her brain.” Her head, and skull It seems that something is coming out on the side where the piece of the is missing.
Rivas said his wife, a 46-year-old mother of two, signed admission papers at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest on December 28. A relatively simple procedure to treat her aneurysm. Her surgery did not go as expected, and on December 30, her doctors put her in a coma. Hospital officials have since asked Rivas “would you like to disconnect her?” When he refused, they continued to argue.
Rivas said the hospital gave him three options on February 27. He will either pay $500 a day for equipment to care for his wife at home, find another U.S. hospital to admit his wife, or agree to be deported to the Dominican Republic. . They gave him 48 hours to decide before initiating arrangements for his wife’s deportation. On March 2, Rivas received a letter in English from the hospital stating that he would be given seven more days to choose one of the options presented.
Groups of local non-profits and grassroots organizations have been trying to stop the deportation since March 1 by drawing attention to the incident and protesting in hospitals. The fact that illegal immigrants avoid drawing attention to themselves.
“Medical deportation is not legal,” said a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 2022 Medical Deportation Papers“Only the federal government has the power to forcibly move an individual to another country. I have.”
However, hospitals tend to coerce individuals into agreeing to remove themselves or loved ones. Therefore, medical deportation only comes to light when the patient or his/her guardian raises objections and the legality of the act is called into question, Park said.
There is no formal explanation or regulation for this practice, and it takes place without the involvement of immigration courts, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), which is responsible for enforcing immigration law, and the parent agency of Customs, the Department of Homeland Security. Border Protection (CBP).
Due to the lack of oversight, medical transfers appear to be on a large scale.Reportedly Phoenix’s only hospital About 100 return home number of patients per year.
“I have tried to look at all the cases that are being talked about in the media and in legal documents, and I would say there are hundreds of them every year, to say the least, but if it were more realistic, we would. I would say you have to, thousands,” Park said.
Growing industry without accountability
Although medical deportation with consent is common, most medical deportees appear to be illegal immigrants from Latin America. new york times.
industry flourished. According to a 2021 report, there are more than 350 air ambulances in operation in the United States that can be deported for medical purposes.deadly flight.Medical deportation in the United Statesby the Legislative Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and the Free Migration Project, a non-profit organization that advocates for the end of deportation.
MedEscort International alone, also based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, prides itself on transporting more than 6,000 patients to more than 100 countries.this is website allows access As a “social worker or family member” or “CEO or CFO of a hospital trying to solve the problem of underfunded foreign patients”.
The industry has financial incentives to expand medical deportations. Rivas said he had identified a New York clinic that agreed to hospitalize his wife, but as of March 2, staff at Lehigh Valley Hospital had not been in contact with New York Option about a possible transfer. I didn’t.
“They want my wife to go to the Dominican Republic,” he said.
For medical transport companies, “This is their business model. They rely on deportation to generate income,” said Adrianna Torres-García, deputy director of the Free Migration Project. “These companies, along with hospitals, are involved in coercing consent from patients so they can be deported.”
Deporting Rivas’ wife could also free Cedar Crest at Lehigh Valley Hospital, part of a multi-campus medical network in eastern Pennsylvania. 11% increase in revenue Another challenge, medical malpractice, could rise to $3.8 billion from 2021 to 2022. Rivas alleges his wife may have been injured through negligence during a procedure to clip her aneurysm, he said, and medical staff refused to provide her medical records. doing. Hospitals are legally obligated to provide medical records to parents of patients, but as of March 2, staff did not.
“I do not rule out malpractice. In other cases we have worked with, families and health advocates have always been concerned about whether patients are receiving adequate care,” says the Free Migration Project. said David Bennion, executive director of “Hospitals do all sorts of things to hide that information, like not providing copies of medical files.”
The president and senior vice president of the Lehigh Valley Hospital Network did not respond to Prism’s request for comment on the story.
For now, Rivas is fighting with his advocates, nonprofits, and grassroots organizations to keep his wife in the United States (as of March 2, she remains at Lehigh Valley Hospital). Otherwise, it becomes difficult to be accountable.
“As far as we know, no U.S. court has ever held a hospital or transportation company liable for medical deportation, even if there was death or serious injury,” Benyon said. “There is no mechanism to enforce this. So, effectively, it doesn’t matter if these companies are breaking the law.”
