Medical deportation is the act of a hospital or healthcare provider sending an injured patient back to their country of origin for further treatment. If you or a loved one are critically injured in an accident or suffer some other kind of incident that requires emergency care at a hospital in the United States, you need to know that you do have rights even if you or the person in question is not legally inside the United States. Here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to medical deportation.
Health Care Providers Have a Legal Mandate to Provide Emergency Care to Everyone
When someone in critical condition is brought to an emergency room, it does not matter from a legal standpoint if that person is legally inside the United States or not. Every major healthcare provider in this country must comply with the law and the law says in this case that they have an obligation to provide emergency care. You likely will not have to worry about you or someone else getting medically deported during the initial treatment, especially if life-saving measures are required. But what comes after is where things can get complicated.
The Hospital Can Decide to Deport to the Country of Origin for More Long-Term Care
Once the person's life is not in danger or emergency care is no longer needed, things can quickly go sideways for an undocumented person. This is because while the federal government will continue to reimburse the hospital for the treatment of an undocumented person without insurance in this situation, the rate the government pays out is usually far less than what the hospital would normally charge an American citizen with an active insurance policy.
Because of this, sometimes hospitals will work to offload further treatment to a facility in the undocumented immigrant's home country so they don't have to deal with handling the long-term care and can free up a hospital bed for someone with insurance. The patient would then be moved on an air ambulance that is capable of flying an undocumented person to another country.
Contact an Immigration Attorney Immediately
The biggest problem for an undocumented person that needs long-term care is that sometimes the hospital can start the medical deportation process without telling the patient until it's almost time to leave. This is why it is so critical that you hire an immigration attorney as soon as you or anyone else who is not properly documented ends up in an emergency room. By getting an attorney involved immediately, you can let the hospital know that someone is closely watching the situation and make it clear that you intend to fight any attempt at deportation. For example, the attorney could make it clear that sending the patient back to a third-world country with lesser healthcare providers could amount to a death sentence. Contact an immigration attorney today if needed.
