Illegal immigrant paralyzed at work says UTMB is pushing him to return to Mexico ( UPDATED )

KFDM-TV News ^ | October 26, 2011 | Scott Lawrence

[moonshinner_09]

GALVESTON, Texas—by Doug Miller/KHOU TV 11 News & khou.com - An illegal immigrant who was paralyzed in an accident says officials at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are pressuring him to go back to Mexico.

Francisco Martinez is a Mexican immigrant laborer who is in the United States illegally and now needs constant, expensive medical care.

KHOU 11 News spoke with Martinez Tuesday outside UTMB’s John Sealy Hospital. He was accompanied by his 7-month-old son and his common-law wife, Brandi Cullen Valderram.

Martinez has been at UTMB ever since a workplace accident three months ago left him paralyzed from the chest down.

“There was no insurance. And since we’ve been here they’ve been telling us that there’s no other option except for him to go to Mexico. They’ve been trying to push, push, push, push, push,” said Cullen Valderram.

She said the hospital even offered a free flight to Mexico. But, speaking through an interpreter, Martinez said he doesn’t want to go.

“What I want to do is only walk,” he said. UTMB wouldn’t comment on camera, but in a written statement a spokesman said:

”Under state and federal laws we are obligated to provide emergency treatment without regard to citizenship, legal status or ability to pay.”

But UTMB is in a financial bind, because the law doesn’t reimburse the hospital for what it’s spending to treat Martinez.

People who work with indigent immigrants say they see cases like this all the time.

[bgill]

I had to wait FOUR hours behind the illegals.

Dang! Wish we'd been able to "settle" instead of paying the scumbag's bill. But at least all this is proof we're paying for them coming and going. When Jr. was little, we had to rush him to the emergency room about 10 o'clock one night. There was only one doctor on call and they shoved us back to take care of a drunk illegal who had gotten into an accident. He was ok but a broken arm and bruises but, of course, wasn't cooperating. It wasn't until about 2 AM until we saw the doctor. All that time for a drunk illegal. No one else was there that night. Sorry, but a 5 year old with a lump on his neck the size of a lemon comes first. If the idiot wasn't cooperating, call the cops and give him a tranquilizer and be done with it. Thank goodness for the nurse who was so angry with the doctor and filled us in on it all. Then, to top it off, she had to guess at what he was telling us because he didn't speak English, sigh... He wasn't from India but somewhere in that general area. Can't understand how he got a job here if he couldn't speak English.

[Carbonsteel]

Sorry to hear that. I’ve has similar experiences myself. I told a similar story in previous thread and then actually had and Freeper tell me that such things didn’t happen and that hospitals and emergency rooms don’t give out free health care to the uninsured and they were lucky to get any kind of real treatments, screenings, or medications.