Thread: UTMB hospital offers illegal patient a ticket to Mexico

UTMB offers patient a ticket to Mexico

By HARVEY RICE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Updated 10:29 p.m., Monday, October 24, 2011

GALVESTON - Francisco Martinez wasn't happy about the free trip back to Mexico offered to him by a social worker at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Martinez, 37, of Bacliff, broke his back Aug. 17 after falling off a ladder while working on the roof of a bait shop where he was employed.

UTMB doctors saved his life, but he is paralyzed from the chest down, can barely move his hands and needs special care.

The problem for UTMB is that Martinez is undocumented and has no hope of qualifying for workman's compensation or Medicaid. UTMB is forced to bear the expense of Martinez's care until another place can be found for him to go.

Experts say the problems confronting Martinez and UTMB raise ethical and social issues about the rights of undocumented residents and the costs when some are inevitably injured and require expensive long-term treatment.

Martinez said the social worker badgered him about signing documents that would allow the hospital to purchase him a ticket for Mexico. Martinez doesn't want to leave his common-law wife, who is a U.S. citizen, and their 6-month-old son. He refused to sign.

"If you don't want me here, just throw me outside," Martinez told the social worker.

UTMB declined to comment on Martinez.

Similar case criticized

The hospital was criticizedearlier this year for discharging an undocumented woman shortly before a scheduled surgery to remove a life-threatening spinal tumor.

UTMB issued a statement about the cost of treating undocumented patients: "This is a national issue and occurs most frequently in the border states."

The statement said the law requires UTMB to provide emergency care regardless of ability to pay and that the patient can be discharged only when stable or when his condition allows transfer to another treatment facility.

UTMB is not the only hospital to attempt the repatriation of undocumented patients as a way to avoid absorbing the high cost of prolonged care. The practice has become frequent enough to sustain MexCare, a Chula Vista, Calif., company that specializes in arranging patient transfers to Mexico, Central and South America.

Grady Hospital in Atlanta was stuck with 60 undocumented patients when it closed its dialysis unit in 2009, hospital spokesman Matt Grove said.The hospital hired MexCare to repatriate 10 patients, most of them to Mexico, Grove said.

Grove said the hospital was spending more than $4 million annually to treat its undocumented dialysis patients, making it cheaper to pay for a trip home.

Other hospitals

A spot check of Houston area hospitals found that Harris County Hospital District has helped seven patients return to their home countries over the last two years, but the cost was borne by their families, spokesman Bryan McLeod said.

Methodist Hospital refused to supply information and Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center did not respond to requests for comment.

The dilemma for UTMB is balancing its ethical obligation to ensure continuity of care with its efforts to avoid a financial burden, said Nancy Berlinger, a bioethics scholar at the nonprofit Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y.

"This is particularly challenging to do when you have a patient who is low-income, undocumented and uninsured," Berlinger said.

Others are critical of repatriating patients.

"It's called patient dumping," said Bobbi Ryder, president of the National Center for Farm Worker Health in Buda, Texas. "It's when their care becomes too expensive."

Questions of care

Unclear is what kind of care awaits Martinez if he returns to Mexico. According to his medical records, "He will need a great deal of medical as well as social functioning support at discharge."

Pancho Arguelles, adviser to Houston-based Living Hope Wheelchair Association for spinal injury patients, has lived in Mexico and is doubtful that care will be available.

"His chances of good care will be very limited because there is a lot of pressure on the system," Arguelles said.

Martinez's wife, Brandi Collen Valderrama, 35, said her husband has family in Queretaro, Mexico, but they are poor.

Arguelles, who is acquainted with the Martinez case, said U.S. and Texas laws purposely ignore undocumented workers.

"The way the financial and political system works right now, there is a choice expressed in policy and budget of not protecting these workers," he said.

Arguelles said he understood UTMB's dilemma. "I wouldn't put it all on the hospital," he said. "If they don't have the budget, it's hard for them."

State Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, has a bill pending in the Legislature that would impose civil penalties for patient dumping. Menendez said the bill would apply to Martinez's case only if the hospital failed to make arrangements for continued care in Mexico.

"Right now it seems like it's open season on undocumented people," he said. "My hope is that UTMB does the right thing."

harvey.rice@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... z1brI3ca7Y

Arguelles, who is acquainted with the Martinez case, said U.S. and Texas laws purposely ignore undocumented workers.

Say it for me - ILLEGAL ALIENS

Not citizens. Not immigrants. Not visitors. Illegal Aliens. As in they are here as trespassers trying to circumvent laws to be where they are not supposed to be.

It's either purposely ignore them or write laws to punish and repatriate them. I prefer the latter, personally, but hey.

RELATED

Texas Hospital wants to send illegal back to Mexico

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-253649.html

Texas Hospital Accused Of Trying To Send Paralyzed Illegal Back To Mexico

October 26, 2011 1:54 PM

GALVESTON, Texas (CBS Houston) — A Texas medical facility is being accused of pressuring a paralyzed illegal immigrant to return to Mexico.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has been treating Francisco Martinez for three months since a workplace injury left him paralyzed from the chest down.

Since Martinez does not have insurance, the hospital is trying to point him back to Mexico, according to his wife. Brandi Cullen Valderram, Martinez’s wife, told KHOU-TV that UTMB has been telling them that there’s no other option but for Martinez to return to Mexico, even offering the illegal immigrant a free flight back, which he doesn’t want to accept.

The matter is a complicated one for UTMB, though not an uncommon one, frequently occurring in the border states.

“Under state and federal laws, we are obligated to provide emergency treatment without regard to citizenship, legal status or ability to pay,â€

Illegal immigrant patient finds shelter after all

Houston-area programs come to his rescue after UTMB offers to send him back to Mexico

By HARVEY RICE, HOUSTON CHRONICLEUpdated 11:51 p.m., Friday, December 23, 2011



GALVESTON — Two months ago Francisco Martinez feared the University of Texas Medical Branch would ship him back to Mexico with a broken back and an uncertain fate because he is undocumented. Instead of going to Mexico, three days before Christmas he moved from his hospital bed at UTMB into temporary housing in Houston with his family.

Martinez, 37, fell off a ladder while working on the roof of a Bacliff bait shop where he was employed, injuring his spine. The bait shop didn't offer workers' compensation, had no insurance and he didn't qualify for emergency Medicaid. UTMB doctors saved his life, but afterward UTMB officials offered to fly him to Mexico to avoid paying for his care. Martinez, who was uncertain if he would be able to get the months of rehabilitation he needed in Mexico, refused to accept an offer that would split him from his wife and 6-month-old son.

After Gulf Coast Interfaith intervened on his behalf in October, UTMB continued to provide medical care while the Jesse Tree and other social service agencies tried to find a place for him and his family where he could continue rehabilitation.

With assistance from Casa Juan Diego in Houston, Martinez and his family were able to move into their temporary residence Thursday.

Martinez's wife, Brandi Valderrama, 35, said it was like a Christmas gift. "It was a huge, huge blessing," Valderrama said.

"I'm happy," Martinez said. "Thank you, God, that I could get out of the hospital and have a house to go to."

Joe Compian, an advocate for Jesse Tree, coordinated assistance from individuals, churches and agencies. "We have a very generous faith community," Compian said. "People who actually live their faith through their actions."

UTMB confirmed that Martinez was discharged on Thursday, but declined to discuss his case. Compian said UTMB, at his request, is providing 30 days of medicines and hospital supplies, including diapers and catheters, a hospital bed and a wheelchair.

"After the unenlightened fashion in which they had treated Mr. Martinez with this offer to send him back to Mexico, UTMB was very much involved in this effort to assist Mr. Martinez and his family during this crisis in their lives," Compian said.

Compian said that planning will begin after the new year on how to care for Martinez after the equipment goes back to UTMB and the supplies run out in 30 days. He said several charities are likely to provide assistance.

Federal and state governments have no process for dealing with health care for the millions of illegal immigrants living and working in the United States. As a result, hospitals like UTMB across the country find themselves saddled with millions in medical care for undocumented immigrants who end up in the hospital, usually with life-threatening conditions.

Grady Hospital in Atlanta, for example, was spending $4 million a month in 2009 to provide dialysis for 60 undocumented patients. Ten who agreed were sent back to their home countries.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-te...ll-2422882.php

Please find that Bill Number! I want to let everyone I know to fight against it!