I heard this claimed by an acquaintance of mine (it was, she claimed the main reason her foreign-born husband finally agreed to getting US citizenship). Is it true that in the US non-citizen parents have no say on the medical treatment of ANY citizen children, even if they are their own children, and no other next of kin are available.
I was a bit skeptical, but could see it. What do the assembled dopers think ?
Well, that certainly wasn’t true in my case. No doctor or teacher ever questioned my mother’s citizenship status or her right to make decisions on my behalf.
I assume you mean parents who are legally present, but not citizens? I cannot see how this could possibly be true. If so, it would be incredibly common: there are tons of permanent residences living in the United States, many of which will have kids here, who will automatically be United States citizens. This would be a huge issue if it were true!
Heck, I don’t even think this would be true for parents who are illegal immigrants, although they probably face the possibility of deportation, meaning they might have to decide whether to leave the child in the case of someone in the US or take them with them when they are deported. Perhaps this situation got caught and distorted in the rumor mill?
Just to clarify she was specifically referring to emergency care, and form next of kin must fill in to allow treatment in an emergency.
I was paranoid about a lot of immigration-related crap when my wife was still only a permanent resident, but such a thing never would have even crossed my mind. BTW, we had an infant child at the time.
And I can’t imagine what possible cost/benefit rationale there would be for a hospital to carry such a policy, unless it were at the explicit direction of the Feds – and that would be HUGE news.
ETA: in fact, Constitutionally, I’m unsure whether any Federal agency or even Congress could create such a policy – that would be stepping on the sovereign States’ toes in a big honkin’ way. Texas and probably California would certainly be screaming bloody murder.
I’m with Driver8 ** and Koxinga**. AFAIK in every state and at the federal level, any child’s recognized parent IS the person with authority over their medical treatment, save if someone else has been appointed legal guardian, and in some special cases such as e.g. the child will die horribly w/o medical treatment X, parent’s religion forbids medical treatment X, State steps in to save child’s life regardless of parent’s wishes, even if a US citizen.
Citizenship is about your relationship to the state, not your relationship to your children.
It beggars belief that the US government would adopt such a policy or that, if they tried, the Supreme Court wouldn’t find some basis for driving an eighteen-wheeler through it. The claim screams for an authoritative cite.
Yup. it shows the incredible ignorance of the general public regarding the Constitution. And yet, even in these boards, we constantly see people who believe the US Constitution only applies to American citizens and non-citizens have no rights whatsoever. That anyone would believe this is true to me shows two things: (1) incredible ignorance about the basic principles of law of America in particular and any civilized country in general because this is just not true anywhere and (2) an incredible arrogance (I have rights because I am an American citizen and non-citizens have no rights and that’s the way it should be).
Never mind the legal mumbo jumbo. Look at the practical problems. If the parents are forbidden, who will make the decisions? It would be damn near unenforacble.