since it is claimed that illegal aliens are clogging our hospitals and straining our health care system way beyond its breaking point, should it just be made law that health care professionals risk fines, jail time, and loss of privileges to practice if they in anyway treat anyone who is in this country illegally?
2007-07-11 16:57:57 · 37 answers · asked by economic_anarchist 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
i should make it clear that i personally do not condone this. i have read about this in various blogs and news posts and wanted to get opinions on this.
2007-07-11 17:10:35 · update #1
We are all part of the Human race. It would be against a Doctors or Nurses ethics to not treat someone that is in need.
Every person has the right to a healthy life. There should be ways in which people in poverty, not just illegal Immigrants can be helped to deal with a lot of health issues before they become bigger issues and put a strain on a countries health system.
2007-07-11 17:07:31 · answer #1 · answered by sten 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Absolutely not. I have been a nurse for over 25 years. I took an oath at my graduation to help those in need medically. I could never in good conscience deny care to someone just because I thought they might be illegal. I'm sure in my years of nursing I've treated more than one illegal,I have no idea as I never asked. I would still stop at an accident even if I knew those involved were "foreigners",their legal status at that moment would be of no concern to me. I think you would be hard pressed to find alot of health care professionals that would deny care based on a persons status. If they did,they surely are in the wrong profession.
I do have a major problem with our emergency room being used as a doctors office for minor problems. But in an emergency situation,every human being deserves to be treated.
2007-07-11 17:49:42 · answer #2 · answered by Jan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think the whole point is we don't know who the illegal immigrants are. They don't were signs stating that they are illegal. If they don't have insurance or proper id then they aren't going to be treated by most hospitals and respected doctors anyways. So making some sort of law would be a waste of time. There is already a law about illegal immigrants, hence the word illegal. But you can't go door to door asking everyone in the country if they are illegal or not.
2007-07-11 17:02:36 · answer #3 · answered by pa 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Health professionals do not choose to treat illegal immigrants it is the law. The problem is the incentive to cross the border illegally to have children on American soil. This comes a misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution stating that any one born on American soil becomes an American citizen. The original authors of this Amendment had no intention of allowing foreigners to enter the country illegally to have their children with in our borders to receive the benefits that we have set in place for American citizens. The original purpose was to allow slaves full citizenship. Take away the incentive of free health care and automatic citizenship and the problem will be solved. The illegals do not pay the bill, American citizens do. Don't expect to jump the border and receive the same benefits though.
2007-07-11 17:36:59 · answer #4 · answered by James 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
Doctors take an oath to help heal the sick.
Illegals using the health care system is but one symptom of an otherwise failing health care system in this country.
What about all the poor, homeless and derelict who use the local clinics, hospitals and emergency rooms without paying?
2007-07-11 17:03:59 · answer #5 · answered by ken erestu 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No it shouldnt be made illegal to treat them, it should just be made illegal to pay the cost with taxpayer money.
The exception to that is for instance if some person, even an illegal was say hit by a car and might die. life saving emergency care I believe is the humane thing to do for anyone.
2007-07-11 17:20:29 · answer #6 · answered by sociald 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, proper medical treatment should be given. However, all doctors and nurses should be required to then turn those who are illegal in. If any follow up care is needed, it can be performed in their own country. If they are not suffering from a life threatening illness, they should be denied treatment. It's not fair that I as an American citizen that pays taxes cannot get free healthcare, but they can. It's absurd.
2007-07-11 17:11:42 · answer #7 · answered by Amanda C 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm a nurse and I decided that I wanted to treat anyone who needed help. At the end of the day if you want to take compassionate nurses and doctors out of the already faltering system go ahead, but I don't think that is the correct approach. We don't have enough doctor's around to be rebuking their licenses, I agree the system is sick but this is not the answer.
2007-07-11 17:02:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
Sounds good to me, but a doctor takes a Oath, and few will break it. I think the best way is declare the month of November " deport month" , and let every law enforcement person in the US start doing it. Maybe by Thanksgiving Day, we will have something even more to be thankful for.
2007-07-11 17:04:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
The Hippocratic Oath states "Physician, do no harm."...so would not treating someone that needs medical assistance be causing harm?
To ask medical professionals to not treat people because they THINK they are illegals, is wrong. How do they determine if someone is an illegal?
Everyone needs to be treated...we just need to figure out how to keep illegals out, or tax their wages and then the hospitals would have greater access to funds.
2007-07-11 17:06:05 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋