Thread: Florida hospital sued for deporting illegal slated to begin

Illegal immigrant's lawsuit against Martin Memorial slated to begin this week

By Melissa E. Holsman (Contact)
Saturday, June 20, 2009

STUART — A jury being seated this week will be asked to determine whether Martin Memorial Medical Center should be held liable for a claim of false imprisonment for the way they repatriated a brain-damaged and penniless illegal immigrant back to his native Guatemala in 2003.

How the hospital conducted itself during the extradition will be key to the deliberations of jurors in the expected three-week trial, pitting attorneys for Luis Jimenez, 38, and his Indiantown guardian, Montejo Gaspar Montejo, against Martin Memorial.

On July 10, 2003, the hospital hired a jet to fly Jimenez out of the country after receiving a court order permitting his return to Guatemala, which an appeals court later determined exceeded the court’s jurisdiction.

Since then, Jimenez’s lawyers, including Jack Scarola of West Palm Beach, have accused hospital executives of plotting a “clandestine deportationâ€

Also 2 polls at the source link.
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Give illegal immigrants health care?
by Opinion Staff

Nine years ago, a drunken driver sent an illegal immigrant to Martin Memorial Medical Center, where he ran up more than $1 million in bills.

Today, Luis Jimenez, a former landscape worker who was left with the IQ of a 10-year-old, lives with his mother in a Guatemalan village. Meanwhile, doctors and lawyers in Florida are preparing for a three-week trial — set to begin Tuesday in Stuart — that will highlight holes in, and raise questions about U.S. immigration and health care policies.

Mr. Jimenez’ legal guardian, Montejo Gaspar Montejo of Indiantown, alleges that Martin Memorial administrators falsely imprisoned Mr. Jimenez when they put him a plane — against Mr. Montejo’s wishes — and returned him to Guatemala because they no longer wanted to pay for his care. The hospital, which had a court order allowing the transfer, denies the allegation, saying that treatment close to family was better for Mr. Jimenez.

Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, said the hospital was right. “We don’t have an uninsured crisis. We have an immigration crisis,â€

Posted on Monday, 06.22.09
IMMIGRATION
Stuart hospital's deportation of illegal immigrant sparks legal battle
An illegal immigrant left incapacitated when he was hit by a stolen van is at the center of a legal battle after the Stuart hospital that spent $1 million on his healthcare deported him.
BY DAPHNE DURET

STUART -- On his ride back to Indiantown from a landscaping job one afternoon almost a decade ago, Luis Alberto Jimenez's destiny collided with the front end of a stolen van.

The impact killed two passengers in the car he was in and landed the van's drunk driver, Donald Flewellen, in prison for almost 10 years on a DUI-manslaughter charge.

The crash also left Jimenez, an illegal Guatemalan immigrant, with debilitating injuries and the cognitive ability of a fourth-grader.

Flewellen is on probation now. And Jimenez has become the center of a legal battle between the hospital that flew him back to Guatemala after spending more than $1 million on his care and Jimenez's family members who say the hospital falsely imprisoned him and deported him so it would no longer have to pay to treat him.

CASE FOR REFORM

Jimenez's case, which will be the focus of a civil trial expected to begin Tuesday in Martin County, is at the forefront of national debates on healthcare and immigration.

''If there's ever a case that highlights the need for reform concerning both issues, this is it,'' Miami immigration attorney Greg Wald said.

Wald, who splits his time between South Florida and San Francisco, said the practice of hospitals privately deporting undocumented immigrants has happened across the country. But Jimenez's case is among the first, if not the first, in which such a deportation has been challenged.

After the February 2000 crash, rescue workers took Jimenez to Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart with severe head injuries and broken bones. Because he was in the United States illegally, he was ineligible for Medicaid aside from a nominal amount allotted for emergency cases.

The hospital treated Jimenez at its own expense. In June 2000 he was transferred to a nursing home. By January 2001, he was back at the hospital's emergency room with severe bedsores.

The hospital again rehabilitated him. This time, according to court records, no nursing home would take him.

Because Jimenez's injuries left him incapacitated, Martin County Circuit Judge John Fennelly allowed Montejo Gaspar Montejo, Jimenez's cousin by marriage, to serve as his guardian. A legal battle surfaced after Martin Memorial sought a court order to have Jimenez sent back to Guatemala.

Hospital officials presented the judge with a letter from a high-ranking Guatemalan health official to bolster their argument that Jimenez would receive proper care in his home country.

Against objections from Montejo and his attorney, the judge sided with Martin Memorial. Montejo filed an appeal, but less than a day later hospital officials flew Jimenez to Guatemala on a chartered jet.

A nurse went along to make sure he was settled in the new hospital. But three weeks later he was kicked out of that hospital and then out of another.

BACK IN GUATEMALA

Jimenez, now 35, lives in a small village in Guatemala, where his elderly mother is his nurse. He has no medication. Family members say his condition is deteriorating.

An appeals court in 2004 overturned Judge Fennelly's decision, saying he had no jurisdiction to authorize the return.

Montejo then sued the hospital. The suit was initially dismissed, but the case was reopened two years later after another appellate ruling cleared the way.

Martin Memorial officials declined last week to comment on the specifics of the case. They said their situation reflects those of hospitals across the country.

''Unfortunately, the cost of providing that care is rising, and the burden of paying the healthcare bill for many undocumented immigrants is falling on hospitals and health systems that simply cannot afford to pay it,'' hospital spokeswoman Ronda Wilburn said in an e-mail.

If jurors rule in favor of Montejo and order the hospital to pay for Jimenez's care, then Wald said hospitals will think twice about sending patients back to their home countries.

''The hospitals are in an untenable position,'' Wald said. ``At the same time, I have a problem with any private entity deporting someone.''


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida ... 07995.html

Watching this video gives additional clarity to the situation that this hospital and too many others face in decisions regarding illegal aliens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLJxmJZXgNI&feature=fvw

Ephesians 4:32