Liver transplants for illegal aliens: Entitlements + open borders = disaster
I’ve written before about organ transplants for illegal aliens–and been attacked by the usual socialist suspects as cruel, heartless, and racist for questioning the wisdom of US public policy that indiscriminately allocates scarce health resources at taxpayer expense to illegal immigrants. The open-borders entitlement mentality has only grown deeper since the last time this issue went national with the case of Jessica Santillan. The ideologues who believe that America should be the medical welcome mat to the world have prevailed. Via the Los Angeles Times:
Ana Puente was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the U.S. to seek medical care. She underwent two liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center as a child in 1989 and a third in 1998, each paid for by the state.
But when Puente turned 21 last June, she aged out of her state-funded health insurance and was unable to continue treatment at UCLA.
This year, her liver began failing again and she was hospitalized at County-USC Medical Center. In her Medi-Cal application, a USC doctor wrote, “Her current clinical course is irreversible, progressive and will lead to death without another liver transplant.” The application was denied.
The county gave her medication but does not have the resources to perform transplants.
Late last month Puente learned of another, little-known option for patients with certain healthcare needs. If she notified U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that she was in the country illegally, state health officials might grant her full Medi-Cal coverage. Puente did so, her benefits were restored and she is now awaiting a fourth transplant at UCLA.
Puente’s case highlights two controversial issues: Should illegal immigrants receive liver transplants in the U.S. and should taxpayers pick up the cost?
The average cost of a liver transplant and first-year follow-up is nearly $490,000, and anti-rejection medications can run more than $30,000 annually, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees transplantation nationwide.
Donor livers are also in scarce supply. In California, nearly 3,700 people are on a waiting list for livers, according to the network. Last year, 767 liver transplants were performed in the state. More than 90% of the organs were given to U.S. citizens.
Donor livers are generally allocated through a geographically based distribution system on the basis of how sick the patients are and how long they have been on the transplant waiting list.
Immigration status does not play a role in allocating organs.
Doctors and illegal alien patients rely on DHS incompetence and the deportation abyss to abet them:
If illegal immigrants inform the state in writing that U.S. immigration services “is aware of their presence and does not plan to deport them,” they could be eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal, said Norman Williams, spokesman for the state health department. Medical condition is one factor that would make immigrants eligible for coverage.
The immigrants send a form to Citizenship and Immigration Services, but the agency said it does not respond to patients or make any promises about their immigration status.
And the game continues, with illegal immigrants now voicing indignation at the inconvenience:
Jose Lopez said he came to the U.S. with his mother illegally as a child. Soon after, he contracted hepatitis A and received his first liver transplant. Eight years later, he got cirrhosis and received another transplant.
Both were performed at UCLA and paid for by the state.
As his 21st birthday approached, his mother, Maria Elena Lopez, searched for clinics that might agree to treat her son. She applied for Medi-Cal for him but has not received a response.
Her son turned 21 on Aug. 7. He said the UCLA doctors gave him extra medications to hold him over.
About a month later, his mother found the Roybal clinic, which provided Lopez with medication and monitored his care. Though his drugs never lapsed, his liver is still in rejection.
“I’m just mad,” he said from the Los Angeles apartment he shares with his parents. “You can’t just leave a person to die. That’s pretty much what they’re telling me: ‘You’re illegally here. We’re just gonna let you die.’ ”
He said he doesn’t blame UCLA for not wanting to treat him free, but added, “I was hoping for some miracle.”
Lopez just learned about the relief Puente received and said he may follow the same route. He hopes to return to UCLA for treatment.
Question: Would the Mexican government stand for illegal aliens on its soil demanding such entitlement?
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i still don’t understand why we can’t adopt the Mexican immigration policy. it seems to work for them.
The “Miracle” I am praying for is that our EXISTING laws be enforced and please God, could you see about ending birthright citizenship?
Send the bills to Mexico!!!!
America is a great and prosperous country. Yet, there are so many people shouting otherwise. The grab bag mentality is damaging the economy and there appears to be no end in sight.
Do I think she deserves a fourth transplant? No. While her situation is very unfortunate I don’t think she should have been eligible to apply for benefits and she most certainly should not have been here. But this rest squarely on the shoulders of our legislators.
They want us all to believe that these people are hiding in the shadows… in the shadows?? Seems like they are out in the open and snatching up entitlements as if they are going out of style. And I didn’t even get a thank you note.
What?!? This sure sounds like illegal aliens get benefits that citizens don’t. If that’s the case, it’s simply outrageous!
Illegal aliens: Doing the jobs Americans
won’t docan’t get a living wage for and getting the benefits Americans can’t get.Sheesh!
Rather than being proud of a great country that steps up to meet the medical needs of someone not strictly entitled to them, you choose to ridicule it.
There is a pattern here: you want the US to use the justice system of Syria (did they give us fair trials), the environmental protections of China, and now the medical system of Mexico.
Just wondering…..Is the UCLA transplant option available for the citizens of California as well as the illegal immigrants?
Pretty unbelievable. It takes sanctuary city to a whole nother level. It is more important to give illegal aliens multiple transplants than to allow some of the 3500 American citizens (who likely have insurance coverage) the same opportunity.
What is the advantage of being an American citizen anymore. It seems like only American citizens get punished into paying taxes for these services.
Yeah, how about we send the bills to Mexico? A human life (legally present in a country or not) is far more important than our taxpayer dollars, so I’m against denying transplants to illegal aliens, but it is unfair that American taxpayers foot the bill.
If we had a surplus of livers to give to people it be one thing. But we don’t. So why are we awarding the law breakers at the expense those who have followed the alw and are also in need?
2 more citizens killed over the weekend by illegals..driving of course.
Guess they’ll use the donor parts for some desperate illegals too.
Kill citizens = free organs
lgm, transplants are not a zero sum game. If you give one person a transplant, someone else goes without it.
Why limit our participation to people who are on American soil? According to your assertion, American taxpayers should just pay for liver transplants to everyone around the world who needs one. That way we’ll show everyone how compassionate we are.
Next time you are out late at night, just go up and give your money to some mean looking stranger (to show compassion). That way, you won’t have to worry about them being poor and wanting to rob you anyway.
I don’t guess you heard the story of the Bosnians harvesting organs of the Serb POW’s have you? you know the people who’s side we fought on to show compassion?
I don’t particularly like Michael Savage, but I do like his proposal about requiring from Mexico one barrel of free oil per day for each illegal Mexican in the U.S.
Currently, the largest exporters of oil to the U.S. are Canada and Mexico.
How about it? Naw. Justice these days seems to be a dwindling commodity too thanks to the mentally ill Dem-Lib open borders, open wallets crowd.
This is an issue where I find myself torn a bit.
Honestly, they cant send people who are here skirting our immigration laws home fast enough. If they want to come here, then get in line like everyone else.
However.
We are a country of compassion. It is our country that sets the tone for acts of kindness around the world. When disaster strikes (reference: massive natural disasters like tsunami’s, international aid packages, funding to humanitarian aid, and so forth), we are the ones usually in the front, and our people are among the greatest givers in terms of raw volunteers and funds in the world.
As much as I want to send them home, having illegals die in the streets doesn’t sit well with me either. And on top of it, doctors take an oath to heal the sick and infirmed, not to ignore them.
As far as this particular part of the issue is concerned, I dont know how to answer. I do know that I dont want people here illegally. I dont want them living off the public teat, or taking resources that people who were born here, or naturalized the right way, have waited for and are denied because someone else cut in line.
But I don’t want to be callous to people who genuinely need medical treatment either. If nothing else, they should be made to pay back, at least in some way, for the assistance they’re getting and not just walk away without any form of recompense.
Or at the least, oil for livers.
“Not strictly entitled to”,…wow, you mean like I am “not strictly entitled to” YOUR bank accounts if I get low on cash?? I love the way you are oh so generous with MY money. We cannot and should not be the planet’s savior in all things.
The State paid for those livers? The STATE is bankrupt: it has NO money. The TAXPAYERS got stuck with the bills AGAIN!!
For the citizens of this country, the “No Free Lunch” sign is ubiquitous, even as the “We Never Close” sign is shown to every deadbeat in the hemisphere.
Truly, the inmates are running the asylum.
I guess you missed the part about scarce resource. Oh wait, since you know that you and your elitist friends will get an organ when you need one, it is only the bitter gun toters that will get denied.
Where is that compassion when we murder the unborn in their mothers womb. I think instead we are a nation that wants to FEEL compassionate. There is a difference.
While an illegal gets 2 or 3 liver transplants, I wonder how many US citizens die waiting for one?
There is something I would like to pose to the troll but trying to start my diet again (it is Monday after all) and trolls aren’t on the plan.;)
Notice i didnt say a “perfect country” of compassion.
Yes, those things need to be addressed as well.
And yes, the practice of abortion is a horrid, destructive one. I would put myself as a pro-life person, simply on the basis that I cannot agree with people who see fit to participate in the wholesale slaughter of innocent children.
But, I’m just trying to stay focused on one topic per thread, since i’m new
Kosovo seems to have solved the organ shortage problem, at least during the late war:
http://greenspiece.blogspot.com/2008/04/gutsy-move.html
Not sure we’d care to emulate them, though.
#6 said:
So once again, 1+1=3, ehh lgm? Leave it to you to accuse the readers here of ridiculing their “great country” when in fact, they are ridiculing a “leftist, illegal immigration/free medical coverage policy” that is out of control.
A healthy “welcome” to any new MM posters. Some of you were asking who the serial trolls are at this site. Case in point, our above friend, lgm, likes to contribute by posting some of the most inane criticisms of Christianity and Conservatism by resorting to some of the most stunted examples of moral equivalence and breaches in logic.
I mention this because he also claims to teach graduate mathematics; a discipline which, ironically, requires a healthy amount of logic and adherence to equivalence.
Have a great day, and here’s hoping (praying?) that lgm’s ability to close the gap between his reasoned mathematical analysis and his liberal political rationalizations happens sooner than later.
Jesus loves you, buddy!
lgm. That’s a fair point. A similar issue came up during the early years of the republic, if I’m not mistaken, and Congress was about to vote to confer special benefits upon the widow of a revered veteran. They ultimately voted against it after an impassioned speech by a congressman who correctly viewed this as a completely inappropriate expenditure of the people’s money. It is not the reponsibility nor the right of the state to spend the “people’s” money for the benefit of illegal foreign nationals (non-citizens) without a darn good limited reason. Maybe if Mexico would supply the organ our doctors and hospitals could provide the pro bono surgury. nawww, never happen. Maybe there is a back door way to exact payment from the Mexican government. As long as we give services away for free the costs of US healthcare will continue to skyrocket. It’s bad enough with our own needy citizens.
Why not withhold federal funding from all sanctuary cities? And as for the toll the illegals have put on our health care and God knows what else, tell them to produce valid proof they can be here or go home. Even if that means they can’t get treatment here. They got here illegally, there should be consequences.
Compassion isn’t the same as entitlement. These people aren’t grateful for what America has to offer. They take it and expect more in return. I’m all for being compassionate, it is more of a way of life than it is something you do and brag about. The government isn’t compassionate when they are taking taxpayers money to care for someone who shouldn’t be here and wouldn’t be here if they would just do their darn jobs and enforce the laws. Why are we even having this debate because open borders zealots want it this way. Don’t tell me I’m not being compassionate because I want those who come here to be able to take care of themselves.
On April 14th, 2008 at 10:33 am, abstractmind said:
I agree and could never deny medical treatment to anyone, regardless of their immigration status. But it seems to me there should be some mechanism in place for our government to hold an emigrant’s native country, in this case, Mexico, financially responsible for the medical costs incurred by its citizens illegally residing in the U.S.
So instead you want to kill an American citizen by taking the liver they would get. That’s what it comes down to. Either a criminal sneaks in here and takes a liver destined for a citizen or not. The solution to this is simple. We go to Mexico and harvest body parts for use here in the US of A. If the Mexican government won’t take care of it we can.
On April 14th, 2008 at 10:25 am, lgm said:
Hey, LGM! Long time, no see!
lgm #6. Please listen to yourself for a moment. How very thoughtful of you to be willing to take my money and contribute it toward someone who daily is breaking the law. Please explain to me WHO is supposed to pay for all of her medical care. If you feel so strongly compassionate about the situation, please take your own money and send it.
And just to make it clear, I’m sure most of us here have nothing against compassion, and charity. In fact, speaking for myself, it’s something I practice in my life in ways which I’m sure you’d never comprehend. What I’m resentful of is your arrogant attitude that those of us who think laws mean something are heartless meanies.
We have american citizens that can’t put food on the table but, we’ll spend 490K to make sure someone who doesn’t legally belong her AND broke the law to ONLY use our healthcare service.
But, far be it from the entitlement crowd to take more money from working taxpayers to pay for every lowlife that comes here or refuses to work!
I absolutely agree. Again, its a tough issue, but regardless of their health issue, it doesn’t excuse anyone from breaking our laws, living here illegally, and taking from people who honestly deserve services and are denied because someone who is here illegally is once again cutting in line.
I don’t confuse compassion with entitlement. Citizens are *entitled* to the services provided by the states in which they live, by virtue of taxes paid, etc.
Again…tough issue. But here’s a solution…
Why not send Juan Hernandez and Juan McCain the bill? And then split it with his open border friends Oblah-ma and Hillary “Rob-um” Clinton?
That seems fair to me!
What about the rest of the percentage? Illegal aliens I presume?
Well that’s nice and everything, but really. Once we find out they’re illegal, shouldn’t we just ship them back to their native country? I mean, come on. This is really ridiculous. There shouldn’t be illegal immigrants- key word is illegal- getting organs that thousands of Americans desperately need. That’s just stupid, plain and simple.
I have a friend who’s daughter has spinal bifida. Her bones/spine basically doesn’t keep up with her body’s growth rate, so she needs operations (about one or two per year) to keep her alive, until she stops growing.
Her parents have to pay for a large amount of the bill, even with health insurance. She was born in the U.S., & she’s a little white girl.
If they couldn’t pay it, people would hold a fund raiser, otherwise the government woould tell her to punt.
Conclusion: If the illegal Mexican community is concerned about this young man, they should pitch in instead of letting him die, & instead of sending all their money back to Mexico for future tequila parties or whatever.. If they aren’t concerned, they why should I be?
That’s how America works. Having your hand out in dire need is understandable, but not when you haven’t even exhausted the efforts of your own people, before burdening another! ~Dan
What about all the ‘bitter’ people in PA? Do they get transplants or do they have to go out and say several prayers to their victims before they shoot them with their guns because of this bitterness. Can you answer that Hussein?
Works for me as well. And that is what stings the most. We are left to deal with and clean up the mess left my the government. You know now have individual states taking hard stances against illegal aliens because the fatcats in Washington aren’t fat enough. I’m disgusted and fed up with them all - Republicans and Democrats.
These people have no desire to assimilate and become productive members of our way of life. Gimme, gimme.
It’s time to close the door. Then there will be no discussion about who gets what.
Can someone ask McCain about this?
P.S.
A better idea even still, is that the Mexican government pays the bill. But then, who are we to tell them how to spend the money we give them, right?
~Dan Lee
There is a critical shortage of livers for transplantation and there is supposed to be a national “waiting list.” Many minority groups do not donate organs but need them just like everyone else. In Philadelphia, black pastors used the pulpit to encourage organ donation from their congregations with stunning success- a lesson pastor Wright needs to learn about religious leaders lifting up their communities instead of blaming “dead white men” and only accomplishing raising up his $1.6 million mansion. How about adding a tariff to Mexican imports for all the medical, educational, and other services given to illegal immigrants? Just figuring out and publishing these costs would create political pressure to secure the borders.
Why not see if John Murtha can cover the cost?
We need to open up Ellis Island again and have that as the only point for immigrants to come here. Give them 1 year to speak fluent English or out they go.
I wonder how many American citizens, who paid taxes all their working lives for this sort of thing, died while waiting for a transplant, while these illegal aliens were saved. Outrage.
lgm, are you willing to give the lives of your parents in order to save the life of a criminal?
lgm said:
Umm, yeah? Maybe because our great country should be tending to the needs of its great citizens instead?
There’s that word again. No one is ever entitled to anything. But I would have to say that an American citizen who might have, and probably did, need that organ transplant would be more “entitled” to it that someone who came over here illegally.
Illegal aliens -
Doing the jobsgetting the organ transplants that Americanswon’t docan’t.The answer is obvious..
low gray matter (lgm) will agree..
nationalize health care..
this way, the transplant will pile up, rationing of transplant operations will occur and then the transplant list will ‘happen’ to take care of itself..
BrianNY said (#24):
Today’s #6 post doesn’t mention Christianity or conservativism. It does criticize moral relativists who excuse this or that behavior by the US by the fact that others in the world do it.
How many American’s, have died, during the 21 yrs..and 4 transplant, waiting on a list….while illigals got their needed…’rights’?
What?
*blink, blink*
No, what we want is national sovereignty, lgm.
The ability to enforce our laws as they were written, uphold the Constitution as it was written, and do so without interference from government systems that benefit from usurping that sovereignty.
Between now and November, we’re going to hear endless stories from Obama and Clinton about how 40 million Americans don’t have health insurance - a grossly inflated statistic, but let’s run with it.
Meanwhile, Obama and Clinton have no problem giving social security, welfare, health care, and all sorts of other social benefits to the millions of illegal immigrants that walk over our borders and demand their “right” to such handouts.
If we secured our borders and deported every person who was here illegally, we’d have millions of dollars to insure those who need it, in America.
How would you feel if your loved one was bumped down a transplant list so someone who is not a citizen of this nation recieved the organs first? And on your tax dime?
The US is indeed the most giving and compassionate nation on Earth. we have been blessed with one of the best economies in the World. However, abundant resources are not the same as unlimited resources.
There comes a point where some tough decisions have to be made so as not to bankrupt the country or put hospitals out of business. SHould illegal immigrants from Mexico receive a super preference status (even beyond that afforded citizens of the US), merely because of their proximity to the US? Should we discriminate in the use of our limited resources to favor the sick from a bordering country to the exclusion of people in need from Asia, Africa, South America and other parts of the world?
The question of whether UCLA would do this for free for legal citizens of California is a legitimate one. More to the point, would UCLA grant the same favors to legal residents of states other than California? Could a citizen from Alabama show up on the doorstep of UCLA and expect a free organ transplant with free treatment?
To really understand the issue, one needs to have an understanding of both the transplant system and insurance coverage. The transplant system is limited in its resources. Getting on “the list” is in itself no small feat. There is much competition for the limited number of healthy organs that become available each year. When someone makes it on the list, they wait their turn. That means that a US citizen in more dire need of a transplant may die while waiting for their turn. They may die because the program does not require legal citizenship to participate. So people who fund these programs through their tax dollars are placed in greater peril by the open nature of the programs.
Insurance is another matter. A liver transplant is an enormous expense. If the employer sponsors health coverage, one liver transplant can crush the plan by requiring additional plan costs via employer health experience. Like auto insurance, where your costs go up if you are in an accident, health coverage costs go up based on past costs.
For the individual, most plans have caps - lifetime and sometimes yearly. You can meet your lifetime cap pretty quickly with a procedure like a liver transplant. And then what? If you happen to have any assets, you or someone else will end up liquidating everything you own to cover payments due for health care. Yes, if you rack up bills that go unpaid, the hospitals and doctors will hire collection lawyers and agencies to take what you have.
I would venture to guess here that many people eligible for transplants make the heartbreaking decision not to pursue a procedure that would leave their family destitute. Yet, we make those procedures available for free to illegal immigrants?
Not everyone has a 6 figure job. Not everyone lives in a million dollar home. Not everyone has two new cars in their driveway. Not everyone can afford an organ transplant.
If the exercise of compassion is important to people, to whom do you allocate those limited resources? Is it fair to handicap US citizens to the preference of illegal aliens? Is it fair to charge some people the full cost of the procedures and follow up and give those resources away to others? Is it fair to expect a citizen to leave their families penniless while those here illegally receive the same services gratis?
Shall we take on other countries financial birdens and moral obligations because they refuse to offer the same level of care we do here in the US?
We simply do not have the resources to
It’s that liberal “compassion” raring it’s ugly head again. Ever notice how liberals don’t subscribe to faith in God. It’s because they view themselves as Gods..dolling out thier version of compassion, justice, goodness. They’ve become what they hate.
This is outrageous! Not only are we having to pay for it, but there are so many AMERICAN CITIZENS who are on the list for years waiting to get helped and illegals are getting multiple transplants. I think it is about time we pull all funding from any one who gives help to illegals and start prosecutting them for aiding and abetting someone who has broken the law, to include state government officials that pass laws that allow such nonsense to occur!!!!
What I want to know is who’s the poor soul who’s going to get Teddy Kennedy’s organs.. They won’t even have to refrigerate those things, because they’re pickled in alcohol preservatives!
There oughta be a law…
Good fences and good gates;
Properly done, keep out the ingrates!
I don’t believe LGM has a close family member. Maybe if it came between LGM and an illegal one might think differently, however, once you are dedicated to hating everything American it becomes easy to feel for the victims……ya, right.
in Wisconsin our great Gov. Jim “Diamond” Doyle passed a bill in secret giving anyone who’s illegal free medical coverage. Don’t bother asking if you are a U.S. citizen and lost /don’t have health care- you’re on your own!
Why are they coming to the US for their medical care anyway. Didn’t they see Mike Moore’s documentary?
They should be flooding across Cuba’s borders if they want the BEST medical care in the world.
Didn’t Michigan Mikey make his movie in Spanish (or at least with Spanish subtitles)???
I remember I went to school with a Mexican exchange student and she said something like Mexico isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. She said she wanted to help change policy and there are many Mexicans like her that hope to do the same. “We’re learning,” she said.
I just wish these people that Ms. Malkin mentioned in her post thought like her instead of draining on our resources. Sigh.
And once again, the story tugs at the heart to the point that part of you says, “Aww, they were dying!” But then you think that tax payer money went to pay for it unknowingly. Hey, if it were privately funded, that’s cool. But government funded? Not cool. I mean, I know so many citizens who have problems getting proper medical care. End of story.
Let’s take all the money Hillary wants for National Healthcare and send it to Mexico for all the undocumented Americans there so that they may get the help they can’t get here. Let the sanctuary cities dry up with no federal funding (because it’s headed to Mexico) and let them start from the beginning as the true Americans did centuries ago.
Dan Lee said:
“What I want to know is who’s the poor soul who’s going to get Teddy Kennedy’s organs.. They won’t even have to refrigerate those things, because they’re pickled in alcohol preservatives!”
So that’s what’s keeping Ted, oh shucks, alive!
LGM - until you put YOUR 1040 Schedule B out there for us to review, your comments on what the rest of us are supposed to do are completely moot.
A 4th transplant sounds a bit unreasonable when there are so many people waiting.It begs the question what is causing the failure of the first 3 organs? Failure to follow the strict regimen of drugs needed to avoid rejection for example? I recently lost a friend who had a liver transplant 15 years ago. The liver was still fine but she developed a heart condition and lung cancer. She did however keep up with all medications and tests.
Hit the send button by mistake. The last sentence should say:
Now, Now! Those individuals whom the liberals deem deserving will receive their compassion and kindness. Liberals will determine who are worthy and who aren’t….
scary ain’t it.
To PDM32. I’m in WIsconsin. Could I go to the Doc or hospital & pretend to be illegal & get my medical care for free? Oh wait, I’m blonde. Well if I was illegal from Sweden could I still get away with it?
The whole point is that it is simply not fair to ask working citizens to pay for health care or anything else for people who shouldn’t be here in the first place. How generous can we afford to be? What happens when the taxpayers go broke or just give up. Then who pays?
The irony is that socialism + open borders = the end of socialism.
Europe has already started to run into the end of socialisms’ sustainability, the reckoning for Social Security is getting close, and California already has serious budget problems.
How dense are they?
The worst part of this entitlement crapola:
At $490,000 per transplant, her 4th operation will bring the grand total to $2 MILLION paid by California taxpayers, who have a $16 BILLION deficit this year.
Every $2 million counts, especially when the taxpayers have no say is dispensing money and precious organs to illegal aliens.
How about a little compassion for tax-paying California CITIZENS??
Newly registered here,
After the Absolut ad, I really think we need to change how we refer to this type of invasion. I propose we start calling these types of reports part of the ‘Southern Reconquista’. I can’t think of a better way to phrase what’s happening to our (and my) Southwest.
welcome to a free society.. if you want cradle to casket health care, swim the Baltic Sea to Sweden..
Free Societies are dangerous places..
you can fall flat on your face and no one but you can pick yourself up..
something that scares the begeezes out of lgm
Red Dog, was that Daniel Boone you referenced? It’s spot on, IMHO.
If an American citizen is in need of a liver transplant, the American should come first. If the government is going to take from every paycheck I get, they can at least use the money on American citizens. Though I’d rather they let me pick my own charity.
Got a great idea - since the left loves national health care so much, why not just send the patient to Canada for a liver transplant? Isn’t national health care supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread? Is that compassionate enough?
I lost count of how many times I’ve e-mailed the DHS, the ICE, and many of my Senators and Congressmen over this kind of crap, and I either get a tapdance that makes Fred Astaire look like an amateur, or they won’t respond at all. It will take the collective anger of all U.S. citizens to stop this invasion of our country and abuse of our resources before they get a clue.
Is lgm here legally?
Doc, unfortunately it appears he is. But that awful beard and typical liberal don’t know squat about anything much bit should be against the law.
It must feel real nice seeing these illegals receive organs they’re not entitled to while there are Americans who are on the organ recipient list waiting desperately for an organ that will save their lives. How many Americans did Puente inadvertently kill to receive her 2 livers? Another example of our favoritism toward illegals at the expense of not only taxpayers but American lives.
I hear Cuba has awesome medical benefits and droves of qualified doctors, because Michael Moore had a movie covering that very subject! So it HAS to be good!
/sarc off
Compassion is nice, but priorities rule in a highly limited resource such as donor organs.
If we can’t get enough organs from our citizens for our citizens, by what twist of logic (or compassion) do we supply them to citizens of other countries?
Where do you draw the line? There are people dying of one thing or another all over the world. Should we take care of them as well? Half of them? One tenth? Where do you draw the line?
Given the scarcity of the resources, they should not be distributed to people that come here illegally any more than they should be given to someone who needs a liver in China or elsewhere. In a surplus, no problem, but that is not the case.
lgm said:
There is a pattern in your mind, but not here. Nobody wants the justice system of Syria (aren’t we in Iraq to give them our system of justice/governance?). Absolutely nobody wants the environmental “protections” of China (one of your socialist/communist meccas, lgm?). That is just stupid. China should just steal our environmental technology instead of our military tech.
As for the medical system of Mexico, well, that is the province of the very illegals we have in this country. Why don’t they go back and fix their own system? Mexico feels no need to do so due to its proximity to the U.S. just as Canada feels no need to develop a huge military force for the same reasons. Speaking of Canada, I guess their medical system (the same types that the liberals keep trying to peddle to us) must be equivalent or inferior to Mexico’s, since their citizens also feel the need to come here for timely and decent medical care. Didn’t Castro go to Spain for real medical care?
I guess liberals like lgm are quick to spend other people’s money AND organs for their social engineering!
As much as helping the truly needy is acceptable by everyone, I don’t believe our founders envisioned a time in our history when people who have no right to be here from the beginning should receive rights and benefits greater than American citizens.
Its never easy to say we can do no more and its so very easy to point a finger and say cruel and selfish, but were does the word we’re sorry come into the conversation?
If the cure for the infliction of a single person is on the moon, are we responsible to expend the life threatening 100 billion to procure that potentially life saving material?
America is not omnipotent and as ordinary people, we’re not able to cure the world.
Good thing this guy isn’t a pregnant Pizza Hut manager in Ohio.
We all know what happened to her because of us.
God I wish the Left truly believed that. For that matter, I wish the Right truly believed that.
Michael Moore could take a stance on Healthcare just as AlGore did on global warming. It’s all a hoax anyway but there are enough dumb souls that they would follow.
Consider me cruel and uncaring, I don’t particularly care. Regarding this situation I say , ” NOT ONE MORE DIME!”
Not even the VA would pay for so many liver transplants for me.
Governments are not compassionate. Governments do not have emotions. We the people can choose to be compassionate, and we can choose our government.
And, we can choose whom to be compassionate too.
“I’m just mad,” he said from the Los Angeles apartment he shares with his parents. “You can’t just leave a person to die. That’s pretty much what they’re telling me: ‘You’re illegally here. We’re just gonna let you die.’ ”
Send out the pity party. Please, this just puts a bad taste in my mouth. GO HOME AND ASK MEXICO TO FRONT THE BILL!! Don’t ask hard working Americans to pay for your operations!
Leave it to the L.A. Times to run an article to give hope to all the illegals to get Medi-Cal. This pisses me off on so many levels.
I’m an American citizen. I work hard to provide my family a decent lifestyle. I have medical insurance. With that said…
Would I get four free liver transplants in 20-something years or would those transplants financially ruin me?
As fred5676 points out, $2 million here, $2 million there, pretty soon you’re talking real money. . .
pdxleon points out that the State has no money; it’s our money. The State just thinks it’s their money, and wastes it accordingly. . .
Our health care system is another draw to illegals, along with our jobs, our welfare, our education system. We must cut all of these off, immediately. Then these parasites will leave voluntarily.
Thanks Michelle for pointing out this travesty. Today is my Mom’s birthday and 13 years ago at the age of 54,she was innocently sentenced to death.She contracted hepatitis c from a blood tranfusion and she died before a transplant was an option.
When will America finally wake up and finally take care of our own and send the “illegals” back home? I wish I could say in my lifetime.
#49 said:
Thank you for that clarification.
We’ll file this one under “breach of logic,” right? To respond to a conversation, regarding absurd amounts of payouts for individuals who are here illegally, with an argument about “moral relativists who excuse this or that behavior by the US by the fact that others in the world do it,” is about as illogical as if I started babbling about liberal Supreme Court justices who look to other nation’s laws to base their decisions upon.
If a student walked into one of your lectures on the Pythagorean theorem and started talking about the negative impact of alternative fuels upon commodity prices, you would tell him to “get with the program” or politely ask him to leave, right?
I’m asking you to use the same standards of discourse, here at MM, that you would hopefully expect in your own classroom.
Don’t worry buddy, we’ll get you back on track!
I was just providing a counterpoint to your assertion that the US is a compassionate country. Actually I have no problem with a person choosing to donate his organ to somebody in the US illegally. That is his choice, and his compassion. I certainly want every organ in my body helping somebody when I die.
However it is my understanding that this country has a shortage of organs. I for example would not want my liver going to a person who has ruined his own by drinking. Sorry, my compassion ends there. Also I want it to go to a US citizen first. I guess I am tired of seeing citizens have to go to the end of the line.
To REALLY end being nickeled and dimed to death and taxes by illegal aliens we must wield that stubborn and forbidden phase: MASS DEPORTATION. There is no other real solution/alternative to the non-fence and anchor babies unless we prop up Mexico’s economy ourselves. That’s why they got rid of Bob Dornam(sp? ’cause I’m pissed that we’re really going to lose this country).
James Greenidge
Queens NY
I don’t want to hear the whiney democrats complain about americans not being insured and this travesty is part of the reason why insurance is so high!
On April 14th, 2008 at 10:22 am, Bob69 said:
Send the bills to Mexico!!!!
———————————–
An easy way to get paid would be to just cancel the T-Bills or other debts Mexico owns equivalent to the costs.
Dimsdale (#78)
In thread after thread people say it’s OK to torture detainees or bomb civilians in Iraq (or commit other acts that are classified as war crimes) because those crimes were committed against the US. The fact that their moral code permits war crimes does not mean that our moral system should allow war crimes.
China has no environmental protections. You can see the consequences. Athletes don’t want to train in Bejing because the air is too polluted. Many people here want to repeal environmental safeguards in the US — liberal antibusiness red tape. Look east to see what would happen.
MM made the argument that we should refuse to treat Mexicans in the US because Mexico would refuse to treat Americans there. I was disagreeing with this part of her argument by putting it in a larger context.
Can’t muster a tear or any sympathy for the illegals…life’s not fair and life can be hard…get use to it, you whiny leaches. Go home and get your operations, oh and when home, stay there!
We should take care of ourselves long before peoples from other countries…now all you trolls on here that want to or will be calling me a racist or fascist or some other conjured name…STUFF IT! I could care less. I’m sure you self righteous indignant slimes know who you are, no need to mention names.
At what point will organ donation to illegal immigrants be mandatory?
It would be quicker and more efficient to have Ambulance crews harvest the livers from dead victims and put it straight into the illegal immigrant drunk driver.
lgm your stuck on stupid. Ron White says there’s no fixing stupid. Sorry my bad, your stuck with who you are.
That is the most selfish thing I have ever heard.
‘Let a few Americans die because I NEED xxx. Just give me ANOTHER damn organ, screw the Americans that need it.
LET THE AMERICANS DIE!’
S-CHIP on steroids.
Citizens pay, illegals free.
There, fixed it.
I realize UCLA & USC have a crosstown rivalry, but THIS is ridiculous…
Can someone explain to me why it’s legal for the US government to force US Taxpayers to pay benefits for illegals?
It’s a crime for them to be in our country. I guess the US government can turn their heads and say they can’t enforce the policy - that’s one thing. But to force US taxpayers to support them seems to me to be yet another criminal act.
I am thinking its more then probable he came into the country already infected with hep A, also Hep A is very treatable. So it is his and his mothers fault they let it get to the point that it destroyed his liver. And don’t try using that line you were afraid to go to the doctors because you’re illegal. That never stop illegal’s from using the ER as their primary care faculties .What I really want to know if this was a drug resistance form of hep a. And how many people did they pass it on to before they decided to leech off the American medical system for a new no I mean 2 liver transplants.
It is how Mexicans feel when they come into USA. They expect non Spanish speakers to learn to speak Spanish while they don’t want to learn English. Because they are proud to their culture. But if you look at their living condition, should they be proud of their third world condition to their living quarters? They are taught that California was, WAS!, part of Mexico but just stolen from them back in the 1800’s by the gringos. So they think it is their rights to come over across the border ILLEGALLY and demand all the benefits. That is why they all pop out babies as fast as they can, often time not with the same father or bother to get married to collect the welfare.
Of course, our MECHa mayor Villar, not Villaraigosa since the separation from his wife after cheating on her, is not helping the problem, he wants more to sneak over the border to collect the benefits.
All I can say is she had lived 21 years, it maybe cold hearted, but if her country will not help her, why should we? Since when did USA hospital become Mexico dropoffs for the sicks?
LGM, if you want to help illegal mexicans with their medical bill, I don’t think anyone on this comment section would stop you or WANT to stop you setting up a PRIVATE charity foundation to help them..
call it, ‘Organs for Anchors’
but when it is the TAXPAYERS dime, then it is another issue..
Again, you and i agree. I want our citizens, who follow the rule of law and deserve not to have illegal aliens get in line in front of them, to be given their turn first. But I have to disagree about our country and its citizens not being compassionate in total. Please dont let one instance where these criminals are getting ahead of law abiding citizens poison your total view.
Yes, its a pain. They dont deserve to be here, taking funds and services from others who pay taxes and follow the law. All of the illegals deserve to be sent home.
But compassion in our country goes far beyond this discussion. Even here, Michelle posts stories when American’s step up to show how compassionate we can be. Look from last week, where the Marines helped that child come here for heart surgery. Or how over in Iraq, we’re building schools, helping build their infrastructure back so they can advance. Look when the tsunami hit overseas, and the outpour of aid we sent. Katrina hit N.O., and the response from our country was overwhelming. Those of us who believe there is still good in this country, and those who feel it is this very trait that puts us head and shoulders above others, dont condone illegal border crossers, and think there should be a penalty for doing so..but, I believe the bible says “do good unto those of whom it is deserved, when it is in the power of thine hand to do so”. Apolgies, its been years..but i remember the phrase, just not the verse and chapter Notice its about who deserves it. They don’t, pure and simple.
Illegals bring all kinds of things across the border. Their crime. Communicable diseases. Their non-assimilating culture. This site posts those in great detail. They all should go home. But neither can we leave people to die in the streets. We are better than that.
Like i said when i first posted…a tough issue, and one i’m torn about. I dont have any easy answer, my friend. If i did, this wouldnt be so complicated. We can all come up with our opinions, but…none of it really solves the underlying problem until the borders are made less pourous.
We do need to keep fighting the good fight. We need a secure border. We need immigration enforcement, and not this catch and release garbage. We need people in our government, and our communities, to step up and protect our way of life, before it all becomes part of Mexico.
Dunno. Thats all I can say. Sorry for the long post, but I couldnt wrap that up in just a paragraph.
As a brand new participant in this forum I hesitate to share this because I don’t want to appear too whiney. But this issue strikes close to home for me.
Due to a motorcycle accident two years ago I have been placed on permanent disability retirement. My healing is complicated by the onset of type II diabetes. My insurance premiums under COBRA are almost 500 dollars a month, roughly 1/3 of my income. I’m signed up with my state’s vocational re-hab facility in order to find a job that accomodates my disability and allows me to provide extra income for myself and my teen daughter.
When someone who is not even a citizen exhibits the arrogance and ingratitude of the people mentioned in the article above I react emotionally.
Maybe I’m just jealous……lol
or maybe move to California?
Naaaahhhhhh…………
Woww, all I can say is that I’m glad you chose to write and not to practice medicine.
http://channoa-barelylegal.blogspot.com/
My wife works in the Medical field and the attitude of entitlement that she gets from the people that we are subsidizing, is phenomenal. Boy, do they give her crap when she insists that they bring someone who speaks English with them on their next visit. It’s almost funny until you really think about how few people really try to assimilate to this country when they emigrate. 25 years from now you won’t recognize the place.
Liberal progressives believe there ought to be no advantage to being a citizen, not even over non-citizens who break the law. It just isn’t fair.
Doesn’t US citizenship confer any rights, privileges or perquisites not shared by non-citizens? The liberal goal seems to be a devaluation of the status.
Instead of greatness, they aim for an America that doesn’t make other nations look bad by comparison. As if greatness and humility were mutually exclusive.
From the UNOS,The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), 16,857 are on the Organ Waiting List as of June 1, 2007. Of these numbers 705 are children. To give away not one liver but multiple livers to someone who shouldn’t be here anyway, is simply murder.
Ben Franklin Quote
A woman asked after the Constitutional Convention “what have you given us” Ben Franklin Answered back ” a republic if you can keep it”
FAILED!
Well, if you are “cruel, heartless, and racist” for questioning this Michelle, I am too. I guess that puts me in pretty good company.
Simple answer. No. Try the country you were born in.
Equivalent question: Could a US citizen denounce his citizenship, pick up another country’s citizenship, then apply for $500,000 in medical expenses in the USA by claiming they are an illegal alien (after breaking into our country of course)? I think not, but it gets to the issue here.
I think what strikes me the most about this story…
These two individuals have already had FIVE transplants….
Thats FIVE citizens who have died while awaiting their turn..
And now, in order for them to live, TWO more will DIE….
May seem heartless, but SEVEN citizens dieing because these two are here illegaly?
I think an ‘other side of the border’ transplant will prove more cost effective.
I would deport, and let Mexico help her if it can. If a choice has to be made because there arent enough organs to satisfy the need (which there arent) then it MUST go to a US citizen, not someone who has broken, and now is manipulating our laws. For those that find this not compassionate, how about some compassion for the US citizen that isnt going to get a transplant because it is being given to an illegal alien? Why doesn’t the need for compassion extend to our own citizens first? As a taxpayer, the needs of my countrymen and women come first, period.
Unfortunately the many responses to the neuron-depleted lgm have only demonstrated to the newbies on this site how quickly a troll can hijack a thread.
Problem is their oil is carp and has a high sulfer content. The USA is one of the few countries that can refine their oil.
For those of you who would like to send sick illegal aliens back to Mexico I would agree however its not as easy as it sounds. Mexicans demand cash on the barrel head to take back their own sick citizens. As an example one of the hospitals here in Phoenix arranged for a sick illegal to be transferred back to Mexico. The Mexican transport company wanted the ambulance driver to hand over $3000 dollars in cash or he would not take the patient. This is not an isolated incident, it happens daily when trying to send Mexicans back to Mexico. The entire country of Mexico is corrupt.
As for the government and healthcare- they should have nothing to do with it. I have had two patients who died as a result of government interferrence in their care. When it comes to healthcare the government is not your friend!