Jury mulls case of deportation of illegal immigrant

Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, July 27, 2009

All sides agree on one thing in the strange case of a South Florida hospital that secretly repatriated a seriously brain injured patient back to Guatemala. During the early hours of a steamy July 2003 morning, Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and sent 37-year-old Luis Jimenez back to the Central American country without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala. Underlying the dispute is the broader question of what's a hospital to do with a patient who requires long-term care, is unable to pay, and doesn't qualify for federal or state aid because of his immigration status.