NC Ping* 
Luna v. Division of Soc. Serv.
On 26 December 1999, petitioner Benito Luna, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, arrived at the emergency room at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, complaining of weakness and numbness in the lower extremities, erectile dysfunction, and bladder hesitancy. He was admitted to the hospital that same dayfor x-rays and an MRI of his thoracic spine. The MRI revealed an intramedullary spinal cord tumor at the T6 level, and doctors originally diagnosed petitioner as having “medullary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,” and later clarified the diagnosis as “thoracic myelopathy with monoplegia in the lower limb and a malignant spinal cord neoplasm.” On 28 December 1999, Luna underwent a thoracic laminectomy and resection of the spinal cord tumor.
After the surgery, the petitioner was gradually mobilized and, on 3 January 2000, the hospital transferred him to its rehabilitation unit for a comprehensive rehabilitation program. At the time of petitioner's transfer, 3 January 2000, his diagnosis was the same as in December. During petitioner's ten-day period in the rehabilitation service, the consulting oncologist noted that he had no signs of other disease, but believed that he had a primary central nervous system lymphoma. The pathology report confirmed this diagnosis. The doctor recommended “immediate” treatment to include high doses of chemotherapy.
On 14 January 2000, the rehabilitation service administered a Port-A-Cath to prepare petitioner for chemotherapy, and then transferred him to the hospital's oncology unit for intravenous chemotherapy. The oncology service then administered the treatment from 14 January through 24 January 2000, when petitioner was released to go home. Because the chemotherapy agent used in the course of petitioner's treatment was highly toxic at the doses used, it had to be administered on an inpatient basis. After 24 January 2000, petitioner was readmitted to the hospital for theremaining doses of the chemotherapy treatment plan.
Complete ruling