Deported in a coma, saved back in United States

New York Times, November 10, 2008

The American healthcare system often haphazardly handles cases involving uninsured immigrants who are gravely injured or seriously ill. Whether these patients receive sustained care in this country or are privately deported by a hospital depends on what emergency room they initially visit. There is only limited federal financing for these patients, and no governmental oversight of what happens to them. Instead, it is left to individual hospitals, many of whom see themselves as stranded at the crossroads of a failed immigration policy and a failed healthcare system as they try to cut through a thicket of financial, legal, and ethical concerns.