ATLANTA — Efforts to force the public hospital here to continue providing free dialysis treatment to a group of immigrants, most of them illegal, suffered a setback on Tuesday when a judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the recent closing of the hospital’s outpatient renal clinic.
A lawyer for the roughly 50 patients said he would appeal. But the ruling for Grady Memorial Hospital brings the patients closer to a Jan. 3 deadline for finding new sources of the life-sustaining dialysis treatment.
When the struggling hospital closed the clinic for fiscal reasons in early October, it agreed to pay for three months of dialysis for the patients at private clinics, either in the United States or in their home countries. That reprieve has nearly expired, and most of the patients have not taken steps to seek treatment elsewhere.
A hospital spokesman disclosed Tuesday that three of the patients had died since the clinic’s closing, two of them in Mexico and one in Atlanta. None of the deaths, he said, appeared related to inadequate access to dialysis.
“Based on the best information that we have, the patients’ deaths were not caused by a lack of dialysis care but by other health issues,” said Matt Gove, the Grady spokesman.
The hospital, which provides charity care to patients regardless of their immigration status, has lost five dialysis patients in each of the last two years, Mr. Gove said. Nationally, about one in five dialysis patients dies within a year of starting treatment, and about two in three die within five years, according to government figures.
The hospital has said its offer to assist patients in relocating will end on Jan. 3, and patients have signed forms stating that they understand as much. But that may not mean they will be cut off from care after that date.
Grady has a contract with a large dialysis provider, Fresenius Medical Services, that covers the patients’ treatment until September 2010. If the patients continue to go to Fresenius clinics, and the clinics continue to treat them, Grady will presumably be billed for their continuing care.
Because of their immigration status, the patients are not eligible for Medicare, the federal insurance program, which covers the prohibitive costs of dialysis for American citizens and longtime legal immigrants.
At a hearing on Tuesday morning, Judge Ural D. Glanville of Fulton County Superior Court provided little reasoning for granting the hospital’s request to dismiss the patients’ lawsuit. The patients’ lawyer, Lindsay Jones, had contended among other claims that Grady had illegally abandoned the patients. A lawyer for the hospital, Bernard Taylor, said the patients were asserting a constitutional right to medical care that does not exist in law.
Several patients said they were saddened by the ruling. “I’m a person who loves life, who wants to live,” said Reina Andrade, 32, one of the plaintiffs. “If I return to my village in Honduras, I know I will die.”
Mr. Gove, the hospital spokesman, said he could not name the three patients who had died or discuss details of their cases. But one of them is Adriana Ríos Fernández, a 23-year-old mother of two whose father said she died in Durango, Mexico, on Nov. 28.
Ms. Ríos was receiving only two dialysis treatments a week, rather than the standard regimen of three, said her father, Adrian Ríos Zuñiga. Five or six hours after each treatment, he said, her lungs would fill with fluid, making it difficult to breathe. Mexican nephrologists briefed on her case said it was possible that more dialysis would have made a difference.
But Ms. Ríos left Atlanta in August, shortly after Grady announced that the clinic would close and before the hospital offered its deal for three months of paid dialysis, Mr. Ríos said. He said his family had paid the $118 cost of her treatments out of pocket and could not afford more than two sessions a week.
“We sold rings, we sold chains, we got money from cousins and friends,” he said. “A lot of people did try to help us, but unfortunately it came to an end.”
Mr. Gove would not comment on whether the hospital kept track of Ms. Ríos after her departure, or whether Grady felt any obligation to patients who left the country before the hospital made its offer of assistance.
“We’ve done everything we can to see that patients, if they chose to go back home, had safe travel and the support they needed,” he said.
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20091216/ZNYT04/912163009
20+ million ILLEGAL aliens are in the United States of America.
Right now in the United States of America, ILLEGAL aliens have more rights than you do!
9/26/2010 - HAZELTON, PA - UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - IT'S ILLEGAL TO ARREST AN ILLEGAL ALIEN. IT'S ILLEGAL TO ARREST OR PUNISH THOSE WHO HIRE OR RENT TO ILLEGAL ALIENS!!!
"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people." --Theodore Roosevelt
"This nation is in danger of becoming a Third World nightmare with all the corruption, disease, illiteracy, violence and balkanization known all over the world. We need a 10-year moratorium on all immigration to catch our collective breath and we need deportation of over 10 million illegal aliens in a slow and orderly fashion." --Ed Garrison
“The 1987 amnesty was a failure; rather than reducing illegal immigration, it led to an increase,” FAIR stated. “Any new amnesty measure will further weaken respect for our immigration laws. Therefore, all amnesty measures must be defeated.” --Frosty Wooldridge
President barry shits on the United States.
This is a picture of YOUR American president, (president barry soetoro, a.k.a barack obama) refusing to acknowledge the National Anthem of the United States of America. This picture clearly shows barry with his hands crossed across his vaginal area when the United States Anthem was playing.
barry has NO RESPECT for you, me, or America! Not only did he disrespect America, he just shit on the graves of every American Soldier that has died for this country.
6/15/2010 - PRESIDENT BARRY CAN'T EVEN KEEP A U.S. PARK OPEN!!! He gave the park to mexico & the illegal alien mexican drug cartel!!!
7/6/2010 - American President barry soetoro sues AMERICA!!!
9/11/2010 - YOUR president just gave mexico $1 billion dollars for deepwater oil drilling despite his own moratorium on U.S. deepwater drilling!? More proof that barry hates America!
Treason
–noun
1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign. 2. A violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state. 3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.
Traitor
–noun
1. a person who betrays another, a cause, or any trust. 2. a person who commits treason by betraying his or her country.
Pslam 109:8
May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.
700 ILLEGAL ALIENS - 40 DAYS - ONE TRAIL
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400 ILLEGAL ALIENS - 35 DAYS - ONE TRAIL
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What's in their backpacks? Are any of them sick with a contagious disease?
United States Code, Title 8, Chapter 12, Subchapter II, Part VIII, §1325 - "Improper Entry by Alien," any citizen of any country other than the United States who: 1) Enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers; or 2) Eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers; or 3) Attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact; has committed a federal crime.
Violations are punishable by criminal fines and imprisonment for up to six months. Repeat offenses can bring up to two years in prison. Additional civil fines may be imposed at the discretion of immigration judges, but civil fines do not negate the criminal sanctions or nature of the offense.
ILLEGAL
-ADJ
1. FORBIDDEN BY LAW; UNLAWFUL; ILLICIT 2. UNAUTHORIZED OR PROHIBITED BY A CODE OF OFFICIAL OR ACCEPTED RULES
-N
3. A PERSON WHO HAS ENTERED OR ATTEMPTED TO ENTER A COUNTRY ILLEGALLY
Illegal Alien
–noun
1. a foreigner who has entered or resides in a country unlawfully or without the country's authorization. 2. a foreigner who enters the U.S. without an entry or immigrant visa, esp. a person who crosses the border by avoiding inspection or who overstays the period of time allowed as a visitor, tourist, or businessperson.
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