Polish immigrant deported by N.J. hospital after crippling stroke

Wladyslaw Haniszewski, 69, is now stuck in a Polish hospital after living in the U.S. for 30 years as an uninsured, undocumented immigrant. He is estranged from his two daughters.

By Erica Pearson AND Corky Siemaszko / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 9:09 PM
Updated: Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 9:09 PM
TVP

Nurse in Poland treats homeless man who was deported from U.S. by the New Jersey hospital that was treating him for a debilitating stroke.
He fell unconscious after a stroke in the U.S. and woke up back in Poland.
Wladyslaw Haniszewski — an uninsured and undocumented immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for about 30 years — was sent back to his homeland by a New Jersey hospital without ever giving his consent, supporters say.
Now Haniszewski is stuck in a hospital in the Polish town of Boleslawiec and furious diplomats are demanding answers from the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.
“Imagine being carted around like a sack of potatoes," said Consul General Ewa Junczyk-Ziomecka.
Junczyk-Ziomecka said she and other diplomats were trying to help the 69-year-old patient, who was identified by friends, when the hospital suddenly shipped him overseas without telling them.
They learned only last week that he was gone, she said.
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Haniszewski is awake but unable to speak with doctors, the consul said. "He can smile from time to time, but he is unable to communicate," she said.
Haniszewski, who suffers from a blood disease, lived for many years in Perth Amboy, N.J., before losing his job and his apartment and moving into a shelter, said his friend Jerzy Jedra.
Jedra took Haniszewski to the hospital earlier this month and it was there that he suffered a stroke. "This is a very good man who I saw on a daily basis for some 12 years," said Jedra.
U.S. hospitals are legally bound to give emergency care to all, but can effectively deport stabilized undocumented patients through a little-known process called “medical repatriation.”
They must first get consent either from the patient, family or a court guardian. In Haniszewski’s case — first reported in the Polish-language paper Nowy Dziennik — consular officials say this did not happen.
He is estranged from his two daughters in Poland; the consulate said they were trying to secure him a court guardian when he was sent back.
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“It’s an incredibly disturbing case,” said Lori Nessel, director of the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall University School of Law. “This kind of action seems clearly illegal and also not ethical, but it’s hard to bring a legal action.”
A Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital spokesman said the hospital followed proper procedures — but declined to discuss case details, citing privacy law.
“The individual was informed regarding his discharge plan and care. As the hospital's understanding of the facts differs from the published reports, we are conducting a thorough review of the procedures and communications surrounding this gentleman's care,” said Peter Haigney.
He said the hospital only repatriates patients if they are satisfied a health care provider in the patient’s home country will give needed care.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plays no role in these repatriations, which are paid for by hospitals themselves trying to unload patients that need costly, longterm care.
Patients are typically put on a chartered flight.
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Haniszewski was flown by Air Escort Medical Flight, Nowy Dziennik reported. A receptionist with the company’s dispatch service could not immediately confirm this.
U.S. hospitals have sent or tried to send more than 800 immigrants back home since 2006, according to an analysis by the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall University School of Law and the Health Justice Program at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
“It’s hard to document how often it happens because it happens in the shadows,” said Shena Elrington, director of the Health Justice Program.
“We have been doing some outreach to consulates and are hearing that it happens with increasing frequency.”
Hospitals bear a potential burden of millions of dollars in care if patients are unable to pay. Often domestic long-term care facilities or nursing homes are reluctant to take these patients, so hospitals find institutions in their homelands who will.
Advocates fear repatriations will become more common by 2014, when the federal government, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, begins to reduce payments to hospitals that care for a disproportionate number of the uninsured.
“A hospital should not be in the business of deporting patients,” said Elrington.
“It’s very concerning when a private actor decides to take it into its own hands and essentially deport the person just completely outside of the immigration process.”
epearson@nydailynews.com

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