Posted on 11/22/2009 9:03:12 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Fifty-one people -- nearly all illegal immigrants -- are facing a "life-or-death limbo" after a cash-strapped Atlanta charity hospital decided it must stop providing them free kidney dialysis treatments that were costing the hospital (or rather taxpayers) $50,000 per year.
That's according to a heart-rending article in Saturday's New York Times about the excruciating choices faced by Atlanta's Grady hospital upon closing its outpatient dialysis unit. Over the years, the unit has been overrun by illegal immigrants, and it has thus become a major financial drain on the taxpayer-supported safety-net hospital, the Times explained in its lengthy article: "The Breaking Point: Hospital Falters as Refuge for Illegal Immigrants."
Who is to blame for this heart breaking situation?
Not surprisingly, the Times blames America's heartless polices on health care and immigration. Or as the paper explains, the moral dilemma Grady has faced is a stark reflection of what happens when the countrys inadequate health care system confronts its defective immigration policy.
Interestingly, though, the Times' mentions nothing about the responsibility of Mexico's government toward its own citizens, whom it all but encourages to immigrate illegally to this country. (Most of the illegal immigrants at Grady appear to have been from Mexico.)
Nor is there any suggestion that Mexico's richest taxpayers, men like Carlos Slim the world's richest man and a major Times shareholder) -- ought to part with a tiny fraction of their fortunes (Slim's worth $59 billion) to help with the dialysis treatments of their fellow Mexicans. Couldn't some of Mexico's vast oil revenues also help pay for the dialysis treatments?
Grady, for its part, has been in quite a moral quandary over its responsibility to the illegal immigrants. Upon closing its dialysis unit, it has gone onto spend tens of thousands of dollars per patient to pay for their dialysis elsewhere -- and to even cover travel expenses to Mexico. However, hospital spokesmen all but acknowledge that at some point in the near future the funds will not be available to pay for dialysis. What's more, it seems unlikely that these patients will be getting free dialysis back in Mexico.
That Mexico's own government (and its richest citizens) are apparently unwilling to chip in to provide such care is interesting in one respect. In the past, Mexican officials have been full of outrage when one of their citizens in America has been sentenced to death -- following a murder trial in which local authorities failed to notify Mexico's consular officials that a Mexican citizen was arrested for murder.
In fact, Mexico appears to have used all its resources available -- even going to international courts -- to obtain justice for these criminals. Yet when it comes to poor Mexicans needing health care, neither Mexico's government nor its richest citizens are anywhere to be found. The Times makes no effort to find them for comment, either.
Could it all be a reflection of Carlo Slim's influence at the self-described paper of record? While an intriguing possibility, these omissions probably have more to do with the particular worldview embraced by the Times -- one that blames America for the world's problems, including a lack of free dialysis clinics for illegal immigrants.
their healthcare is their responsibility. after that would be their embassy and their country
at no time is it my concern (outside of emergency care)
Questions like this will be unnecessary once the Communists get their single payer plan, that will include healthcare, employment, and all payments on property. It’s the Obamao way. The government will take care of us all. Need a car loan? Get it at Obamao motors. Need medical care? Whup out your Obamao card. Need food? Get your Obamao rations. Need a home? Go to Obamao Mortgage and Securities to qualify. It will be the American way. Tired of having to thumb through your wallet to get the right Obamao card? You can have your Obamao number embedded into your wrist or forehead. Shopping is as easy as waving your hand over a scanner.
T H E M
H O M E!
All but? From what I've read, Mexico's government openly encourages illiegal immigrants to come here.
“Who is to blame for this heart breaking situation?”
Uh...the illegals? Calling Captain Obvious.
Why not let the bleeding hearts over at the United Nations pay for the health care of illegals?
The US pays about 25% of the expenses of the UN anyway, plus a lot more in foreign aid, etc. It would still be US taxpayers’ dollars paying for the care, but it would be coming out of the HUGE slush fund controlled by the UN that we already pay into.
Alternative plan would be to ship the illegal aliens back to their home countries and let them get health care there.
Each.
The cities and states that give them sanctuary should pay up.
“Whose responsibility is the health care of illegal immigrants?”
Correction:
Who’s responsibility is the health care of illegal immigrants?
opps you idiot!
ping
As is true with all people, the ultimate, and only, responsible person for health care is the person themselves. The illegals came here illegally, they should be given enough care to stabilize them if they have life threatening illnesses or injuries and then sent to whatever country they came here from. THEY are responsible, not the US taxpayer.
You had it right the first time. The only correct usage of “who’s” is a contraction of “who is.”
This is why this “health care reform” is a farce and will never work. It’s the elephant in the room no one will talk about.
Illegals or citizens, pay your own way or quit taking up space on this planet!
A: The immigrants who came here illegally first, second their countries of origin.
NOT.... I REPEAT .... NOT THE U.S. TAXPAYER!!!!!
taco bell
“Whose responsibility is the health care of illegal immigrants?”
==
The financial responsibility should lie with each individual member of Congress that opposes their deportation as well as the employers of illegals.
Articles like this make my blood boil. I struggle to pay hundreds of dollars a month for medical insurance that only pays 80%. Thank God I don’t need kidney dialysis because I probably couldn’t afford it even with insurance. Yet illegals waltz into this country and think NOTHING of taking free care.
What’s more, I have never seen ONE article where ANY illegal alien expressed a shred of gratitude for all the free care this country provides them, OR expressed the slightest sympathy for the Americans who have to pay for it, and the Americans who suffer when hospitals and emergency rooms in their areas shut down. Illegals have an enormous sense of entitlement, and Americans just don’t matter anymore.
How much more are we going to put up with?
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