Illegal Protest

So Mexico likes to butt into our affairs when it comes to “their” citizens who are in our country illegally.. that is until that Mexican citizen is lying in a BURN UNIT and costing the hospital THOUSANDS of dollars. Funny how that works huh?

Contact information for the MEXICAN CONSULATE in SAN DIEGO. Call them, write them and let them know you want MEXICO to pay for the care of their MEXICANS!!

San Diego
1549 India St., San Diego, CA 92101
Tel: (619) 231-8414 * Fax: (619) 231-4802
E-mail: info@consulmexsd.org

Spokesman for the Mexican Consulate:

Mr Lozano   619-308-9924  - leave a message!

H/T to Immigration Watchdog on this one

The fact that 11 of the 18 wildfire victims lying in UCSD Medical Center’s burn unit are illegal immigrants with no apparent health coverage highlights the daunting financial challenge hospitals face in providing long-term, intensive care for all those who need it.

“These are the most expensive kinds of cases, but we don’t look at these patients and say, oh, because they aren’t legal residents, we’ll stop providing care or stop changing their bandages,” said Dr. Thomas McAfee, UCSD’s physician-in-chief. “It’s part of our ethic to continue to provide this care no matter what.”

According to the Mexican Consulate in San Diego, the burn victims are from central and southern Mexico, and include one woman. Four are in critical condition. All were rescued north of Tecate last week, said consulate spokesman Alberto Lozano, and it is suspected they had crossed the border illegally before coming face to face with the Harris fire.

Burn care requires ventilators, multiple surgeries, round-the-clock intensive care and grafts from human cadaveric skin. McAfee said grafts can be grown from patients’ own skin to minimize tissue rejection at $500,000 per patient.

Last year, the average cost of treating a burn patient at UCSD was $45,000 for an average 15-day stay.

When patients need long-term nursing care, said UCSD spokeswoman Leslie Franz, “we make arrangements on a case-by-case basis. This could mean anything from them continuing to receive care from us, or we might transition them to another facility in that person’s home state or another country, if we can expedite that.”

However, appropriate care in a person’s native country is not always available.

Esmeralda Siu of the Coalición Pro Defensa del Migrante, a network of migrant shelters and other services in Baja California, said rules prevent the United States from sending Mexican nationals home before they can travel safely.

“By law, they can’t deport them if they are injured,” said Siu, who is based in Tijuana. “They have to be stabilized, and that they accept leaving, and that they are well to travel.”

NO! We have a way to transport these burn victims to Mexico once they are stable and as an American taxpayer I DEMAND IT. Enough is Enough!!!!!!!!

Read more here about how American and Canadian tourists are treated in Mexico when they need medical care - and these people are TOURISTS not ILLEGAL ALIENS!

More stories about how Americans are treated when they need medical care in MEXICO:

On July 25, 1990, at age 26, Ms. XXXX’ life, as she previously knew it, ceased to exist. Earlier that week, she and Mr. Guzy had left Dallas to vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. At dinner, on July 24, 1990, Ms. XXXX had a heated dispute with a hotel waiter over a food order. Then, on the afternoon of July 25, 1990, the hotel employee and another unidentified male came to Ms. XXXX’ hotel room and knocked on the door. As Mr. Guzy slept, Ms. XXXX answered the door. The hotel employee proceeded to pull Ms. XXXX from the room, hit her in the face and rip her clothes off. He then attempted to rape her. In her effort to escape the would be rapist and the other male, Ms. XXXX climbed over a small, ivy covered wall thinking that there was a platform to support her on the other side. Unfortunately, the wall was part of the hotel’s atrium design and Ms. XXXX, whose clothes had been ripped off, plunged five stories and landed naked in the hotel lobby. See Attachment A (picture showing fall).

Following her fall, Ms. XXXX was rushed to a Mexico hospital. She suffered five compressed vertebrae, one of which punctured her spleen and left kidney resulting in the loss of the kidney. Id. at ¦ 52. She also suffered six broken ribs, a broken left ankle and a broken left wrist. Id. The fact that Ms. XXXX lived at all has been described as “a miracle.” Id. at ¦ 11.

After being “held hostage” for a $7,000 medical bill in Mexico, Ms. XXXX’ father, through the intercession of a member of the Texas House of Representatives, arranged for a $7,500 care flight to take Ms. XXXX from Mexico to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. Id. at ¦ 52. Ms. XXXX had two stays at Parkland Hospital, the first for approximately ten days and the second for approximately four days. Ms. XXXX was also hospitalized at Wylie Community Hospital for injuries that occurred during the attempted rape. In total, Ms. XXXX underwent five surgeries, including three outpatient surgeries at Dallas Family Hospital. In addition, she underwent extensive physical therapy to be able to walk again and to be able to use her left wrist. Ms. XXXX’ medical bills, excluding Parkland Hospital where a bulk of the services were performed, totaled $37,794.

And there’s more.. apparently all the way back to 1998 with this 20/20 report, it wasn’t exactly safe for Americans to travel in Mexico and expect good treatment while there:

This is the unedited, uncorrected transcript of the television show ABC 20/20 “South of the Border — The Dangers of Traveling in Mexico. ” This was Part 1 which aired April 27, 1998.

HUGH DOWNS, ABC NEWS We’re about to tell you some surprising and hair—raising stories about what has happened to Americans traveling south of the border. Mexico is a favorite vacation destination from this country and for good reason. But why doesn’t anybody warn you about the dangers you face there? Americans have been raped, robbed and murdered even while on vacation. Now, we know that crime is a reality for American tourists in many places. But recently, things have become a lot worse in Mexico. And tonight, Elizabeth Vargas launches the first part of her report on the dangers facing unsuspecting American tourists south of the border.

ELIZABETH VARGAS, ABC NEWS (VO) The white sands and blue waters of Mexico entice millions of Americans every year. Its beautiful beaches and warm weather are close, and vacations there are relatively inexpensive. For Stephanie Naess, a trip to Mexico City held the added attraction of meeting her boyfriend Paul’s relatives.

STEPHANIE NAESS, TAXICAB CRIME VICTIM It was three days of just fun. Went hiking up the pyramids and met his whole family, and the food and the colors, and it was amazing.

ELIZABETH VARGAS (VO) But Stephanie had no idea how easy it was to become a victim of crime in Mexico—until she and Paul did something most Americans do without thinking. They hailed a cab.

STEPHANIE NAESS We sat back. We were sort of talking about the evening. And all of a sudden, he stopped at a stop sign, and he unlocked the door. And right then, these two guys jumped into the cab. These people were holding knives. And they were very panicked. They were like, “don’t”—you know, “Close your eyes, put your head down, don’t move. Don’t move, don’t move!”

ELIZABETH VARGAS (VO) The goal was robbery. The couple was quickly stripped of their credit cards, cash and jewelry. But the abduction continued.

STEPHANIE NAESS And that is where my red panic light just went on, like, OK, it’s been about 15 minutes. Why are they not letting us out of the car? I mean, as a woman, it crosses your mind, “Am I going to be raped? Are they going to lock me up?” And it’s a horrible feeling when someone else is in total control, and there’s just nothing you can do.

ELIZABETH VARGAS (on camera) The terror lasted 40 minutes, until robbers finally released the couple unharmed, but in a bad neighborhood with no money to get home. What happened to Stephanie and her boyfriend is not unusual. A 20/20 investigation reveals an alarming number of Americans are being attacked in taxies, on buses, some even on the beach.

More on the differences between how MEXICO operates when it comes to medical care from Allan Wall, an American living in Mexico:

(And Mexican hospitals absolutely will turn foreigners away if they are unable to pay cash up front. “I was negotiating with them. It was like a barter. We were bartering back and forth. They wanted $20,000 US. They said, I’ll take $10,000 US. It’s like going to a flea market and you are playing with somebody’s life here”, said a Canadian woman recently. Her husband ultimately died from complications following a heart attack in Puerto Vallarta, after the travel insurance he had purchased in Canada was denied on a technicality. (One family’s nightmare with travel insurance, Kathy Tomlinson, CTV News, Dec. 14 2006.)

One major reason Mexican emergency rooms are not being overwhelmed by uninsured patients, as they are in the U.S.A.: they are still emergency rooms. They are only used for emergencies. And physicians, not patients, determine what an emergency is.

In contrast, the EMTALA regime in the U.S.A. will slap a $50,000 fine on a hospital for refusing treatment, even if the attending doctor determined a case was a non-emergency.

…

Here in Mexico, the hospitals don’t put up with such nonsense, and physicians, not patients, still call the shots.

Of course, any attempt to change or scrap EMTALA, can be expected to meet howls of protest from the Mexican government and its meddling diplomats.

Mexico’s leaders are quite happy to use the emergency rooms in the U.S. to absorb medical costs for Mexican citizens. And our leaders are only to happy to oblige.

But they don’t allow the same insanity in Mexico.

So I reckon I won’t be getting free treatment for hangnail anytime soon.

More details from the story Allan refers to above - ”

One family’s nightmare with travel insurance

Life was much better last November. The family was celebrating in Mexico, because parents Bonnie and Andy had finally gotten married after 26 years as a couple. Three months later, after what Bonnie calls their “travel nightmare,” Cardi was dead.

“I lost a father who will never walk me down the aisle,” said Cardi’s daughter Michelle, choking back tears. “My mother doesn’t have her husband anymore.”

They were having a great time in Puerto Vallarta, when Cardi went for a swim and suddenly collapsed. He was healthy and fit — even so, he’d had a heart attack.

His wife was worried for his life, but relieved that at least she had purchased travel insurance. The Mexican hospital demanded cash payment up front. Knox-Cardi was floored when she called the insurance company — and was told they would not provide coverage until they checked Cardi’s medical history — even though he’d had no previous heart trouble.

“You’re on your own basically,” Knox-Cardi said. “Thank God I had the limits on the credit card to put the money on, that they were asking me (for). I was negotiating with them. It was like a barter. We were bartering back and forth they wanted $20,000 US. They said, I’ll take $10,000 US. It’s like going to a flea market and you are playing with somebody’s life here and the insurance company is not helping you at all. All they had to do is send a letter saying we were insured. And they would not do that.”

….

The Consumer’s Association of Canada told CTV News it has heard 219 similar complaints from Canadians about travel insurance, just in the last 14 months.