Immigrants deported by U.S. hospitals
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The New York Times reports from Guatemala on Luis Alberto Jiménez, who was deported from the United States by a hospital in which he was receiving treatment after a car crash with a drunk driver in Florida. Since his arrival in his home country, Jiménez, who sustained a severe traumatic brain injury, has received no medical care or medication. Over the last year, his condition has deteriorated.
‘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,’ writes Deborah Sontag. ‘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.’