Why can't we all just get along??

[dewey]

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What program would have paid for this person's care if she could have stayed and became a citizen? Is there one? If so, I would like to know which one it is to share it with a few hundred other citizens I'm in contact with that desperately need it.

I'm so very sorry for your distress...it's awful to know that someone, or many 'ones', anywhere, have been given a death sentence for lack of care. I personally know of many in that situation and it is distressing, to say the least. Any of us could easily be in that situation, and many of us are, or are on the verge of just that.

Regarding the visa expiring and not being renewed because she was ill? That sounds a bit odd to me since all the people I know (personally) had to leave the country when the visa's were up and then re-apply from their own country...which has up to a 2+ year waiting period, if lucky. The ill were not singled out.

 

[Chickens_in_a_nutshell]

Horrible! I find that disgusting.

 

[redhen]

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You're a good, caring person..

 

[HHandbasket]

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Believe me, I've been in this business almost 30 years and have changed enough of the "pertinents" of this story to not violate any HIPAA laws.

And believe me, if I shared EVERY story that made me sick in our healthcare system, I'd be here all day.

This is just a story that has eaten away at my conscience for the last month.

Thank you for your concern, all the same. I would never divulge enough patient info to violate any laws, believe me. I am a patient, too, and wouldn't want MY pertinent info all over the place.

The bottom line is, this is what America has become and it should be no mystery to ANYBODY why the rest of the world hates us. We're the biggest nation of hypocrites in the world.

Whatever happened to send us your tired, your downtrodden, etc. ???

Please. Spare me your judgment and indignation.

 

[chickened]

Truly a sad situation and apparently no easy answer. Our country did not get this way over night and the bitterness that some feel here is not unjustified either and the abusers of the system are to thank for that. What this woman needs is mercy and law has no mercy. I wish there was another way for her.

 

[HHandbasket]

That's where I find my conscience as an American at a crossroads.

Really, we cannot afford to take on our OWN countrymen/countrywomen with health concerns (I have my own, believe me, and my spouse and I have been without insurance for almost a year with no sign of any insurance coming anytime in the near future because of how the economy has left both of our careers). We surely cannot take on the world's healthcare crises, no doubt! This is a person who came to the United States of America with every intention of becoming a citizen of this nation, with every hope for the freedom and equality that we are soooooo proud of here, only to be diagnosed with a serious illness during her initial visa/visit and finding herself unable to work, support herself, and have a life.

By the same token, do we have the right to condemn this patient or ANY patient to death because of external circumstances? Apparently, we have the right. Having the right and having it BE right are two completely different balls of wax.

Apparently, legally have that right. It is my personal belief, however, that our moral obligations and our legal obligations somehow separated somewhere along the line, and what is morally correct and what is legally ALLOWED are 2 completely different things in America.

I don't think this is what our forefathers had in mind. Let's accept everyone, no matter their circusmstance… as long as they're not sick. As long as they aren't left alone by familial death. As long as they're not ______ (fill in the blank with whatever you desire), we'll take you in here in America.

Those certainly weren't the principles my Irish grandfather was about when he and his parents immigrated to this country.

It's like my grandmother used to say… just because you CAN do a thing, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Did we legally have the right to deport this woman? Absolutely! SHOULD we have condemned her to death? I say no.

I lay in bed at night and wonder about this poor patient and what has become of her in the weeks since working on her report. I hope my prayers for her are heard. That's all I can say.

 

[suzettex5]

HHandbasket- 30 years! WOW! Our system needs ALOT more people like you! A caring person is not often found in our medical ranks, I mean a person who REALLY cares, and hasnt been hardened by the system. I like that. Im sorry this story and this ladys' situation is bothering you so deeply. But at least you care and you arent one of those who just dont feel anymore.


But.... I dont think OUR system has failed her. I think HERS has. It is a sad situation, no doubt. But when I see hospitals all over our country shutting their doors due to underfunding and having lived near a hospital that CLOSED its labor and delivery department due to too many Medi-cal patients and illegal immigrants not paying their bills, I get a little less understanding and caring. I start to see WHY things like this go on. (not saying she is illegal)

My father is on kidney dialysis, and I know the cost of the procedure and ongoing treatment to keep him alive. He worked 40 years and paid and paid for his insurance and paid into the system. Now his benefits are being cut due to not enough funding and gov benefits cant afford it so he has to pay $500 a MONTH to stay insured and alive. I'm sorry, but why should someone who hasnt done the same hard work be entitled to his treatment if they havent done the same work? And for free? A sad story doesnt cut it for me, nor unfortunate circumstances.

Maybe if we stopped just giving our money away, and stopped giving anyone and everyone who asks for it a free ride and send them home tilll they comply, maybe, just maybe, those countries will start to get the message.

HER country is to blame if she dies- HER country is responsible for her, and it sounds like HER country failed her, and Im sure many others like her. I hope she didnt have children (I know you changed her story a bit, so I dont know all the details like that kind of stuff). WE cannot take on every injured puppy in the world. We would be over-run in no time. If our sysytem worked THAT way, we would no longer be America, but a giant welfare state with no money that everyone comes to to use up and then go back home to strengthen their own country so they can someday overtake us and all our freedoms would be gone in no time. (oh wait, thats already happening, isnt it? scary). And it all starts with just ONE person.

I thought you had to have someone in this country who is a citizen 'sponser' you and it kinda got you into the US. If she has family here, why didnt that happen? Feel free to expose my ignorance on that subject because I dont know about how that stuff really works.

Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses? YES- but learn the language, get a job and pay for yourself and your children. JUST LIKE our immigrant fore-fathers did. THEY didnt get wel-fare or free daycare or any of the stuff we have now, and yet they thrived and survived and worked super hard to be successful. None of them felt entilted to free healthcare or governement benefits, they didnt scream for foodstamps to buy soda with. They worked, even the kids, and made our country great.

 

[CluckyJay]

People really do need to band together and riot in their own streets. If they like America so much, they need to take the steps to change their homeland's ways. I feel for the lady, I really do, but our people suffered to get to where we are now.

 

[HHandbasket]

To the poster who asked what "program" would have paid for her care... I dunno. Maybe if she had been allowed to get a visa to work here based on the fact that 100% of her family has legally immigrated here, and she was attempting to do the same, then maybe she would have been able to get a job before her condition degraded to the point where it is, and perhaps that job would have provided her with a health plan that could have paid for regular diabetic care, and maybe she wouldn't BE in florid kidney failure now and draining our system by going to the ER (regular dialysis costs are nominal compared to the fees associated with ER visits).

I think this person did everything she could. She speaks the language, lives here, and wants citizenship but doesn't "qualify" because she doesn't have an American spouse or an American parent.

I don't know how to fix things, that's for sure. Heck, I can't even get healthcare for MYSELF. Can't afford it. God help me if I'm ever in another accident (still paying off hospital bills from a fitness-related accident I had almost 2 years ago--was hit by a bicyclist going too fast on a bike trail, broke my shoulder, knocked me unconscious, and I spent a day and a half in the UC Davis Trauma Center--and the kid that hit me was a young college student that worked part-time in a sporting goods store, so I couldn't sue him cuz you can't get blood out of a turnip, no matter how many times you poke it with a needle).

It is definitely agreed we need to take care of our own first. But as a human being first, I have a LOT of trouble sending someone to die in the streets because they have no home, no family, no nothing left in their native country. I agree with what another poster said... HER own country/government failed her. No disagreement there. I don't know any answers... I just know that I am bothered by the way we humans treat one another, and this story has certainly given me pause to consider how I treat others and hope that we are someday not divided by nations and borders and divisive entities but can come together as HUMANS, regardless of culture or skin color or region of origin. It won't happen in my lifetime, but I can still hope/pray for it.

 

[HHandbasket]

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Her family did sponsor her, which is how she originally got a 2-year or 4-year visa when she first got here a dozen or so years ago. But without a qualifying parent or spouse, she couldn't get it extended. From what I recall, it was during her first 2 years that she was here LEGALLY and working that she was diagnosed. I don't know what happened to that job, though. All I know is it's a sad story.