Thread: Italian doctors forced to report illegal immigrants

Italian doctors forced to report illegal immigrants
Italy's doctors will have to report suspected illegal immigrants to the authorities, in a move which they say will turn them into government spies.

By Nick Squires in Rome
Last Updated: 7:03PM GMT 05 Feb 2009

Italy's only black MP, Jean-Leonard Touadi, who is originally from the Congo, criticised the law as 'a return to fascist-era snooping' Photo: GETTY
The Italian parliament passed a bill on Thursday which will compel medical staff to contact the police if they believe that the patient they are treating does not have a valid visa or work permit.

Opposition MPs condemned the measure as "racist" while doctors groups said it would turn them into informers of the kind last seen in Italy during Mussolini's fascist regime.

Italy's only black MP, Jean-Leonard Touadi, who is originally from the Congo, criticised the law as "a return to fascist-era snooping".

Italy's Association of Hospital Doctors said its members objected to acting as "spies" while the Italian branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres said sick or injured illegal immigrants would shun hospitals and clinics rather than risk deportation.

An MP from the opposition Democratic Party, Anna Finocchiaro, said the law would "spread fear among people who will no longer go to hospital to give birth or seek treatment for their children, or will hide diseases even if they are contagious." She accused the centre-right government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of "crossing the line from law-making to persecution".

But the government insisted the law was necessary because of the large number of illegal immigrants in Italy, which it blames for many of the country's law and order problems.

The government deployed 3,000 soldiers onto the streets of Italy's big cities last year and Mr Berlusconi last month suggested increasing the number to 30,000, although he subsequently played down the proposal.

The bill, which was passed by the Senate and is likely to be approved by the lower house of parliament, was put forward by the anti-immigration, separatist Northern League.

When opposition MPs accused a Northern League MP, Federico Bricolo, of xenophobia, he replied: "You can call us xenophobic all you like, it only wins us more votes."

He told the opposition: "You are with the foreigners, you defend foreigners and you're against Italians." The bill also called for police to register tramps and the homeless on official files and approved "citizens" patrols' which have been established by the Northern League in the northern part of the country, in which it is most popular.

The law also calls for illegal immigrants to be imprisoned for up to four years if they refuse to leave Italy after being served with expulsion orders.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... rants.html

That should cut down on the cost of medical care to illegals!

I don't see anything wrong with this. Doctors are "forced" to call police whenever they get a gunshot or stab wounds, no? Crime is crime and illegal aliens are criminals.

"citizens' patrols" which have been established by the Northern League in the northern part of the country, in which it is most popular.

The law also calls for illegal immigrants to be imprisoned for up to four years if they refuse to leave Italy after being served with expulsion orders.

Good to see a country deal with the problem more aggressively!

Good for Italy and her citizens! Ironically, Italy has not said that illegals would be denied treatment, but they would simply be reported. Being deported as an illegal seems like a fair deal in exchange for receiving thousands of dollars worth of ( and likely free) life saving treatment!

I fail to see any "racial" component to that! I doubt anyone would deny themselves emergency or life saving treatment because they might be deported.

They might however think twice about using the hospital emergency room as their source of primary care! Would love to see a similiar program implemented in this country.

If the U S enforced it's laws there would be no need to have doctors report someone who is illegal. The situation is the same for the Italian government.

These methods of catching Illegals taking advantage of services is just the program we need here more than anything!!!! They could never whine about how they got caught since they turned themselves over!!!!!!!!

While we can talk like we are a superpower, we cannot even defend our own borders, and how many hospitals have had to close because the uninsured, unemployed illegals are overrunning vital medical care, like emergency rooms for hangnails? How come Italians have more sense than we do? My close relative invited a woman from her old country to help take care of her husband. The woman did nothing but sit and chat, while she watched her do housework, including all the cooking. Then this woman had horrible headaches and needed to go to the emergency room. Taxi cab, since my relative did not drive, and the ER staff said they had never seen anyone with so much earwax. It was about a month later she needed to go back because of heart problems (faked) as they ran all tests and found absolutely nothing wrong. All the while, my relative's husband was suffering from cancer, which needed more attention than some earwax.
Point being that none of the folks we treat here medically have any qualms about taking all they can from our medical system. Total bill she paid was $50 for both treatments, while my relative paid her a couple hundred a week for nothing but a vacation.
While this woman was invited here and had a visa, it just shows how little respect so many, legal and illegal, have toward what this country is (or was.)

Doctors hit out at Italy's call to report illegal immigrants



Published Date: 07 February 2009
By Nick Pisa
A PROPOSAL by the Italian government for doctors to alert police if they suspect they are treating illegal immigrants has caused a major controversy.

Under the measures, confidentiality agreements between doctors and patients would be breached – but if doctors failed to alert the authorities, they could face criminal charges.

Doctors' associations yesterday reacted with anger, saying the move
would turn them into spies, while the Catholic Church urged medics not to follow the proposals.

Many doctors also pointed out that the plan would also increase the risk of spreading infectious diseases, such as TB and malaria, as people would be scared to seek treatment.

The proposal came from the anti-immigration Northern League party, which holds a sizeable minority of seats in the centre-right coalition ruling government which is headed by the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi.

The government insists the measure is needed to help crack down on illegal immigration, which has risen steadily in recent years and has been linked to high-profile crimes.

The proposal has been passed by the Senate, the Italian upper house, and must now go before the lower house, which will pass it easily.

The Northern League hailed the vote "as a victory for our militants", with the party's senate whip, Federico Briolo, dismissing shouts of "xenophobia" from the opposition benches.

Amadeo Bianco, president of the Italian Order of Doctors, said: "This proposal goes completely against our ethics, and it also goes against the basic principle of health-care for all. Illegal immigrants will not go to official health centres, perhaps preferring illegal medical treatment."

Domenico Segalini, of the Italian Catholic Bishops Conference, said: "The Church's view is that help should always be offered to people in danger, and we would urge doctors not to report anyone who comes to them. We would urge Catholic doctors to declare themselves conscientious objectors."

http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Doc ... 4957351.jp