Posted on 08/02/2008 6:14:21 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Eight years ago, Mr. Jiménez, 35, an illegal immigrant working as a gardener in Stuart, Fla., suffered devastating injuries in a car crash with a drunken Floridian. A community hospital saved his life, twice, and, after failing to find a rehabilitation center willing to accept an uninsured patient, kept him as a ward for years at a cost of $1.5 million.
What happened next set the stage for a continuing legal battle with nationwide repercussions: Mr. Jiménez was deported — not by the federal government but by the hospital, Martin Memorial. After winning a state court order that would later be declared invalid, Martin Memorial leased an air ambulance for $30,000 and “forcibly returned him to his home country,” as one hospital administrator described it.
Since being hoisted in his wheelchair up a steep slope to his remote home, Mr. Jiménez, who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, has received no medical care or medication — just Alka-Seltzer and prayer, his 72-year-old mother said. Over the last year, his condition has deteriorated with routine violent seizures, each characterized by a fall, protracted convulsions, a loud gurgling, the vomiting of blood and, finally, a collapse into unconsciousness.
“Every time, he loses a little more of himself,” his mother, Petrona Gervacio Gaspar, said in Kanjobal, the Indian dialect that she speaks with an otherworldly squeak.
Mr. Jiménez’s benchmark case exposes a little-known but apparently widespread practice. Many American hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance.
American immigration authorities play no role in these private repatriations, carried out by ambulance, air ambulance and commercial plane.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
They should have deported him before they spent all that money.
My bills exceeded that by a million and a half more.
I lost everything I had. I am sorry, I can't feel 1 bit sorry for someone who was here illegally and got a free ride, literally, for everything.
Why can’t his own country help him and look at the treatment our military veterans are receiving because we are giving the money to illegals. Grrrrrr......
After the initial saving of life and stabilization. What more do we taxpayers need to pay for? Perhaps the Hospital could have located a Charitable Hospital or some other form of charitable medical institution to take care of the patient.
How far do you go to treat a illegal when our own care to our citizens is suffering from this parasitic invasion?
And once again the NYT’s wants to pull at our heart strings
for an ILLEGAL invader.
I say the NYT’s should be charged for his stay and extended treatments
and should foot the bill for the hospital expense that has been rung up already.
Why did they waste all that money just to send him back to his own country to die. we have people here who could have used the care given to this guy, especially our military.
An infuriating sob story. The villains here are the scummy lawyers working for this illegal alien
“... the Indian dialect that she speaks with an otherworldly squeak “
Eh? What kind of alien was he... ??
Fair and balanced < /s >
Importantly, this is a case where more law is not required. This is a case where the government should butt out. Unfortunately, it is exceptionally rare when the federal government will intercede, passing a law prohibiting the courts from hearing cases in such matters.
The LA Crimes does a heart tug illegal story once or twice a week. But when one of them kills a family of three don’t hold your breath for the story to be in the Crimes. They had to actually be pressured into mentioning the murders in San Fran and it took over four days at that.
I agree with you. Hard to muster the sympathy for some illegal alien when so many Americans who need medical treatment, education and social services go wanting.
Obama would give all these illegals insurance.
That is the best video I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing.
If he didn't want to go back home for a visit he should have put his wishes in writing at the time he obtained his visitor's visa ~ uh, what's that you say? He didn't bother to get a visa?
Doggone that smarts eh.
I have no tears for these people. I’m sure we spent millions on his healthcare. The well has run dry. If the sob sisters want to fund a charity to handle these cases, fine. Otherwise, don’t expect US taxpayers to shell out this kind of $$ for anyone than a true citizen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.