Thread: Death of an Illegal

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 67740.html

Death of an illegal


Monday, August 28, 2006


Noe Lopez-Vilchis, 32, an illegal alien from Mexico, died Wednesday last at Mercy Hospital after almost drowning in the Dormont Pool on the afternoon of July 20. The sense of loss by family and friends is, of course, immeasurable. Calculating the worth of a human life is impossible. The deepest condolences to all who grieve for Mr. Lopez-Vilchis.
But this profound tragedy at least can be an object lesson about the hidden cost of illegal immigration.

Citing a number of sources, the estimated costs of this incident include:


Pool closing, $300






Dormont police, $422

Allegheny County detectives, $428

Medical Rescue Team South (the ambulance), $750

The Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh (nonsurgical critical care bed), $54,000

Allegheny County Medical Examiner (transporting the body and autopsy), $1,540.

The total estimated cost of $57,440 will be paid directly or indirectly by the people in this region.
Taxpayers will be stuck paying for everything other than the hospital cost. And since Mercy does not expect to be reimbursed, that's $54,000 that cannot be spent to care for anyone else. Or to hire medical personnel. Or to purchase medical equipment.

Apologists for illegals argue that the lawbreaking aliens contribute more to society than what they cost. But how long would it have taken Mr. Lopez-Vilchis to earn almost $56,000, let alone pay it back?

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 68475.html

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Your editorial about the illegal immigrant who died in Mercy Hospital a month after almost drowning in Dormont Pool was misguided ("Death of an illegal," Aug. 28 and PghTrib.com).

Yes, the man who drowned was an illegal immigrant, and his death did cost a lot of money. However, if a native-born local resident without health insurance had drowned, the costs would have been borne in exactly the same way.

Since more than 10 percent of Pennsylvania residents lack health insurance, this is not an unlikely scenario.

The real point of your editorial was to illustrate the high costs of people not having health insurance; the nationality of the victim was tangential to the story.

Heaven help any American citizen who drowns in Pittsburgh and gets castigated in a similar manner.

Nathaniel Tassler
Silver Spring, Md.