Jury Rules for Hospital that Deported Brain-Injured Patient

A jury in Florida ruled in favor Monday of a hospital that repatriated a severely brain-injured Guatemalan patient against the will of his guardian. The case is thought to be a significant development in dealing with the responsibilities of hospitals towards uninsured illegal immigrants.

Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a plane for Luis Alberto Jimenez and provided him with life-saving care after he sustained brain injuries in a car crash involving a drunken driver. After failing to find a rehabilitation center willing to accept an uninsured patient, the hospital kept him as a ward and spent $1.5 million on his treatment. The New York Times wrote an in-depth report on the patient last summer.

In 2003, a state judge gave the hospital permission to fly Jimenez to a hospital in Guatemala. Although the patient’s guardian tried to delay the move, the hospital leased a plane for $30,000 to transport their long-time ward to a Guatemalan hospital. The move was later appealed and reversed, but Jimenez was already back in Guatemala. Jimenez now lives with his elderly mother in a one-room house. He suffers from regular seizures and as of last summer, had not received medical care for five years.

Jimenez’s cousin and legal guardian, Montejo Gaspar, filed a lawsuit against Martin Memorial for nearly $1 million for the cost of care. He also asked for damages in what he viewed as kidnapping and false imprisonment of his cousin. Judge James W. Midalis told the jury last week that it was already a “matter of law” that Jimenez had been detained unlawfully: three of the four elements that support a claim of false imprisonment had been established. However, the jury found that the fourth element, that the hospital’s actions were “unreasonable and unwarranted under the circumstances” could not be proved.

The CEO of Maison Memorial Medical Center, Mark E. Robitaille, released a statement critiquing leaders at state and federal levels for not addressing the issue in health care reform proposals. “What is most disappointing is that the issue of providing health care to undocumented immigrants remains unresolved on a state and national level. This is not simply an issue facing Martin Memorial. It is a critical dilemma facing health care providers across Florida and the United States…”

Hospitals are faced with the dilemma of providing extended care to uninsured immigrants, with the knowledge that their treatment is not covered by Medicaid.  The Jimenez case is thought to be the first to address the legality of patient repatriations.

No related posts.