Botched Transplant
 

"Jesica's family had paid a smuggler to bring them from their small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, to the United States so the teenager could get the medical care, relatives have said. "

What are the chances the family will still sue the hospital? And be able to fly/drive back with bunches-o-bucks!

Can some knowledgeable legal person give a reasonable explanation how an illegal immigrant could sue someone for services they might not have been entitled to in the first place?

How did Duke expect to get financial restitution from the family if all had gone well?

Just curious.

don't know how they can sue if they were illegal..but they most certainly have a case..as for payment of services, i believe they had a benefactor

Yes, they had a benefactor who raised the money for them and they were legitimately on the donor list.

The staff at Duke didn't apologize but they did say it was a regrettable situation that the little girl died and that they feel for the family.

You can't ask for better than that can you?

this happened in boston, very close to where i am from... :( i feel so bad for that little girl... they completely changed their procedures because of this incident.

This is really sad... I felt bad when I heard on the news that the girl passed away :(

I don't understand why they shouldn't be "entitled" to getting medical services... I just think that no matter where you are from you should always have the right to live..even if it means going to another country to get medical attention. Many people come here to get medical services... and I would guess it's mostly because their health care isn't as great in their home country.

Please don't take this the wrong way...

But when people such as Jessica's family come here (illegally, might I add) and feel "entitled" to healthcare, and then recieve healthcare, that raises the insurance and hospital costs for all of us. Somebody, after all, has to foot the bill.

In Jessica's case, however, I think someone mentioned they had a benefactor?

But in any case, what makes somebody more entitled than another person? There are many people who legitimately pay for insurance and healthcare... why shouldn't they just feel "entitled?" Heck, let's just all stop paying for health insurance and hospital costs since somebody else will do it. Let's become "entitled."

XOXO,
Annie.

Shark In Skirt, I can totally understand that.. I was unaware they were illegal immigrants.. I thought they were just people from another country who came here for medical attention only. (Kind of like those Siamese twins from another country who came to the U.S. to be separated, and after it was over, they paid [whether it be from a benefactor or however else]) and went back to their country. Our health care in this country is amazing with knowledgable doctors and technology so I can see why people like those would want to be operated on here.

Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part :)

I read a sad statistic this morning that 16 people die every week while waiting on the heart/lung transplant list. This girl got 2 sets.

So yeah, everyone sympathizes with this girl's family. I'm thinking about the families of the other 2 tax paying, fully insured US citizens who died last week because the organs they were waiting for went instead to an illegal immigrant.

For the amount of money I pay in taxes and insurance premiums over the course of my entire life, someone can crawl over the border, fork over the cash for the operation and take a life-saving organ away from me, or my family?!? Bullshit.

wptw

Amen.

XOXO,
Annie.

Amen! As usual, wptw makes a good point.

Real.

Not to be a bleeding heart troublemaker here, but how about if we try this: how about taking the few seconds it takes to write a post on greekchat about how much we think it sucks that an illegal immigrant got a transplant that could've gone to a tax paying American and instead doing something to encourage other tax paying Americans to become organ donors? It's not this girl's fault that there aren't enough organs; it's the fault of those who can't be bothered to sign a donor card.

I'm not familiar with the facts of this case, but IMHO, if somebody at the hospital screwed up, he or she should be held accountable. I'm not sure I understand what people are saying here -- are you saying that because the victim was an illegal immigrant then they have no recourse? They should take their lumps and go away? Isn't that blaming the victim (which in my view is NEVER appropriate)?

Illegal immigrants shouldn't get benefits at the expense of paying customers (citizens).

Everyone should donate their organs if they can.

Medical professionals who screw up should be held accountable.

Those 3 things are not mutually exclusive (even for bleeding hearts ;) )

wptw

I'm sure that if your father, mother, brother, sister, etc. needed a transplant, you'd feel differently about being an upstanding, tax-paying citizen who's money had just gone towards giving TWO SETS of organs to an illegal immigrant.

God forbid that any of your relatives ever needs a transplant. You're right, there are not enough to go around, people absolutely should sign donor cards. However, for the organs that are available, they really need to go to the citizens or legal aliens who need, and deserve, them.

XOXO,
Annie.

While I sympathize with the family over the loss of a child, what really appalled me about this entire situation was that the parents refused to donate any of Jesica's organs although several were still viable.

I realize that the parents are probably angry, but if your child has been the recipient of not one but TWO transplants, please don't deny other parents the chance to see their child grow up because of bitterness over your situation. I thought it was very ungracious of them.