By Miguel Cruz Tejada
NEW YORK._ The Cedar Crest Hospital of the Lehigh Valley Network based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, placed a Dominican with irregular immigration status (undocumented) in medical deportation who remains in an induced coma after surgery that complicated her life. Health for an aneurysm.
The 46-year-old Dominican, a mother of two children and husband, was admitted to the care center on December 29, 2022, and last week the hospital disposed of the order that immigration law experts maintain is illegal and that it is up to an immigration judge to decide whether or not to repatriate the patient.
An aneurysm is an abnormal bulge or bulges in the walls of a blood vessel that can rupture or burst, causing internal bleeding and often death.
The coma was induced when she suffered an aneurysm due to the surgery.
Given the hospital’s refusal to cancel its objective, several organizations that defend the rights of migrants have been mobilizing in front of the sanatorium facilities, and today, Wednesday, March 8, from 10:00 in the morning, the protests in favor of the Dominican who has been identified as “SC” to protect her from possible persecution.
The family, headed by her husband, who identified himself with the fictitious name of “Junior Rivas,” also rejects the hospital’s position and assures that if she is repatriated to the Dominican Republic with her health condition, she will die in the country. Native of her
The hospital alleges that since January this year, it has searched 258 care centers to transfer her but found none available.
The activists for migrants from the organizations “CASA,” “Make The Road Pennsylvania,” and “Free Migrant Project,” maintain that hospital official assume an attitude of cruelty in the face of a case that moves all communities and, in three years, has processed three medical deportations.
The husband pointed out that the hospital billed him $500 a day for the expenses of keeping his wife partially cared for. The complainants say that the center does not want to pay for the treatment for the Dominican woman’s recovery.
“The hospital refuses to make a written commitment to her family to quash the request to deport her,” “Make Road Pennsylvania,” said in a written statement released to the media.
The procedure she underwent, generally considered low-risk, did not go as expected due to complications, so medical staff induced the undocumented woman to slip into a coma, according to the patient’s husband.
After more than two months of trying to find a long-term care facility to accept this patient, hospital administrators now want to transfer the woman to a care facility in the Dominican Republic against the family’s wishes. Her. After the first community protest, the hospital granted a seven-day extension, but it is unclear if she will decide to work with the family to find other solutions.
Rivas, who asked that her real name not be published due to her immigration status, said the logistics of caring for his wife began to go south when the hospital administration began inquiring about the situation. The immigration status of his wife.
The hospital declines to comment, citing the patient’s privacy.
A shared hospital letter dated March 1 indicates that the hospital’s case manager learned that Rivas’s wife is a citizen of the Dominican Republic in early January while researching options for continuing care.
The letter says it would be difficult to find a long-term acute care hospital because such facilities do not accept medical care or patients who are not in the United States legally.
Hospital officials have met with Rivas and her children every month since late December.
The hospital contacted the private medical transportation company “MedEscort,” which specializes in what hospitals call “medical repatriations.” According to the letter, hospital staff and MedEscort obtained additional information about the family’s visa status at a meeting on February 6.
“At this point, we explained that since your wife was not a valid citizen, rehab centers will not accept her for long-term care needs. During this meeting, we explained how returning to the Dominican Republic with the help of MedEscort, could be the only option,” the hospital said.
Rivas said through a Spanish interpreter that he does not want his wife to fly while she is in a coma and is concerned that she could die on the plane.
