Relatives of IA at UIC Med Center seek review of his death
Relatives of illegal immigrant who was in coma at UIC Medical Center seek review of his death
Wife wants negligence ruled out, she says
By Azam Ahmed and Judith Graham | Chicago Tribune reporters
August 28, 2008
Grief-stricken relatives called for Cook County's medical examiner to look into the death of Francisco Pantaleon, an illegal immigrant who died Tuesday in the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago after lying in a coma for more than a month.
The circumstances of his death remain unclear, and family members are angry about what they say was a failure by the hospital to inform them that Pantaleon, 30, was near death. They are asking for the investigation to be sure that negligence did not play a role in Pantaleon's death, they said.
Security concerns appear to have complicated the issue. Pantaleon's family received threats after the Tribune reported that the medical center was planning to send him back to Mexico to receive long-term care. Pantaleon's case highlighted a little-known practice of hospitals to return sick illegal immigrants to their countries of origin.
In response to the threat, the hospital restricted access to Pantaleon's room, allowing only his sister and wife to visit.
Because his sister and wife typically visited late at night, no one was with Pantaleon when he died around 4 p.m. Instead, the family was informed of his death by cell phone.
"What I want to know is why didn't the doctors call us when my brother was in his last agony," said his sister Socorro.
Officials at the hospital said that Pantaleon arrived in terrible condition and had been dying all along.
Dr. William Chamberlin, the chief medical officer at the medical center, said he could not discuss the circumstances of Pantaleon's death because the family did not allow him to release information.
But he said Pantaleon died suddenly and defended the medical center's ethics.
"We think we notified the family of appropriate changes when they occurred," he said. "We were open with the family the entire time about his prognosis."
The family is asking for a second autopsy because they want an independent review of the circumstances of Pantaleon's death. The first postmortem examination is being performed by the hospital.
"I'm not accusing the hospital of anything until I have a second report," said Pantaleon's wife, Maria, speaking in Spanish.
"Once I've seen the results of the second autopsy, then I'll make a decision about what to do."
The underlying dispute over Pantaleon's care at UIC touches on two hot-button issues: Immigration and health care. With the exception of pregnant women, some children and people in medical emergencies, illegal immigrants generally have no right to health care in the U.S.
But access to long-term care—the kind of services Pantaleon appeared to need—is not guaranteed even if the patients are U.S. citizens, with the exception of the very poor.
Legally, hospitals are bound to stabilize all patients in an emergency, regardless of their nationality or insurance status.
Afterward, they are required to arrange to transfer patients to settings where they can receive adequate care, said Doreena Wong, staff attorney for the National Health Law Program. The difficulty is that nursing homes in Chicago usually will not serve undocumented immigrants who don't have health insurance or any means to pay for care.
http://www.chicagotribune.com:80/news/l ... 0936.story
