UTMB offers patient a ticket to Mexico

[ScreamingMeemie]

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/UTMB-offers-patient-a-ticket-to-Mexico-2234510.php

snip-

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.

-snip

snip-

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.

-snip

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. There are days I gotta laugh since that's the only thing left

1.- Yes that specialized care exists down there

2.- even in the government system and Queretaro is actually a city with such, but that's no the point...

You see this is beyond patient dumping and goes ino he is also NOW eligible to SS payments as he was injured on the job here.

It goes well beyond.

And yes Virginia that border issue with patients goes both ways.

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. My guess is that, as an undocumented, he was hired under the table.

SS does not apply.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Alas he has paid into the system dime on dollar

It's a well known issue and both governments were negotiating back in the days about the future of those funds. They even talked of a transfer to the Mexican office...it never went through since it should have happened with the Brasero program.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. No worries...he'll be dumped, yes I said dumped.

And the docs will go home and pay a jump boy for their lawn care all the while not wanting to treat him when he gets sick. :)

[Xithras]

5. No offense but...

...why should the doctors and hospital bear the costs of caring for him, potentially for an indefinite period of time? They did not employ him. They did not injure him. They did not do anything to or for him, except work diligently to save his life in his hour of greatest need.

Certainly SOMEBODY needs to be paying this guys bills, but I don't see why the doctors or hospital should be on the hook for his care.

[jwirr]

6. That is a very good point. The employer who hired him should be

liable for his care if he gets injured on the job just like he would be for any other worker. If he is an illegal worker then the employer should be made liable for ALL of it.

[KamaAina]

7. !Dios Mio!

We had a similar case here, in which a spinal cord injury patient was duped into signing papers, then returned to Mexico.

Since no one from here told anyone down there how to care for him, he ended up getting substandard care, and soon died. :cry:

Your local independent living center might be interested to hear of this:

Coalition for Barrier Free Living (CBFL) / Houston CIL (HCIL)
http://www.hcil.cc/
6201 Bonhomme Road, Suite 150
Houston, TX 77036
[phone]
TTY: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
EMAIL: [e-mail]

edit: I see he's in Galveston, which has its own center.

Mounting Horizons Center for Independent Living
http://www.mhcil.org/
501 Gulf Freeway, Suite 104
League City, TX 77573
[phone] or [phone]
TTY: none
FAX: [phone]
EMAIL: [e-mail]