Hospital complains about illegal immigrants

By Phil Galewitz | Thursday, June 12, 2008, 09:52 AM


When Martin Memorial Medical Center administrator Carol Plato testified in Tallahassee in April about the impact of illegal immigrants on her hospital, the meeting was attended by fewer than 50 people and got scant attention in the media.

But Plato’s two-minute testimony to the House Committee on State Affairs is making big waves on YouTube. A video of her testimony has received more than 360,000 hits on YouTube as well as hundreds of comments. See it here.

Plato said illegal immigrants are costing the Stuart hospital millions in unpaid bills. Because they are not U.S. citizens, the illegal residents don’t qualify for government assistance programs.

In her testimony, Plato said one illegal immigrant from Guatemala racked up a $1.5 million bill from 2001 to 2003 before the hospital paid to send him back to his country. Since then, the hospital has spent $250,00 fighting a lawsuit from his family for returning him. The case is pending in Martin County Court.

Martin Memorial for the past two years has been treating a brain damaged illegal immigrant from Mexico.

Hospital spokesman Scott Samples estimates half of the hospital’s 2,170 births last year were to illegal immigrants.

The hospital tries to report the illegal immigrants to federal authorities but get little response, Plato says


http://tinyurl.com/6y6mkt