# Two Time Heart Lung Transplant Patient an Illegal Alien? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 22, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683 "2003-02-22T00:44:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/21 "2003-02-22T23:50:11Z")
Would her organs have been of any use to anyone at this point? I imagine they’ve been through quite a lot, and I imagine there’s a limit to how much stress one can put organs through. Any medical folks care to comment? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/22 "2003-02-23T00:17:23Z")
The SF Chronicle story was the first I’d heard of any “illegal alien” status for Jesica, who lived about 15 miles from me. (I never met her.) The county I live in took her to their hearts, and started up a program akin to Habitat for Humanity where houses built with donated lumber and materials were sold in the high real estate market around here to raise money for critically ill children – called the Jesica’s House Program. [Here’s a website](http://www.4jhc.org/housepicgallery.html) on one of the houses. [Here’s Jesica making handprints](http://www.startribune.com/images/embed/3665779_55359.html) in the patio of the first Jesica’s House, located about ten miles northeast of us and about eight miles northwest of **Tygr** and **Jkayla**. I’d be extremely surprised to find that someone had not arranged for a “compassionate visa” for the kid and her mother, given the circumstances. [fixed links --Gaudere] ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/23 "2003-02-23T00:32:51Z")
Speaking as the grandson of an organ donor, I don’t believe that they allow you to re-use donated organs. (If they did, someone would have come around to take back Mickey Mantle’s replacement liver.) ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/24 "2003-02-23T01:23:42Z")
> [@](#): > > A child in a foreign country is very ill and needs medical care in the United States. Can I bring this child to the US for treatment? > > Families sometimes contact us to ask how they can bring a child to the US for needed medical treatment or how they can adopt a foreign-born child who is here in the US for temporary medical care. > > There are non-profit organizations which make arrangements to bring children to the United States for medical treatment. These organizations make arrangements for the child’s medical treatment with physicians and hospitals as well as for volunteer families who care for the children during their treatment. These organizations also arrange for the child’s travel to the United States and the issuance of a medical visa to allow the child to enter the US for treatment, not for adoption. > > Families who hope to adopt children who are in the United States on a medical visa should realize that US immigration law requires the child to return to his or her homeland. If the child is legally free for adoption according to the laws in the foreign country, the family can then begin adoption proceedings there according to the laws of that country. The prospective adoptive family must comply with the adoption laws of their State of residence, US immigration law, and the laws of the foreign country. Families should check to ensure that the child meets the “orphan definition” criteria in US immigration law so that they do not proceed with an adoption in the foreign country, only to find out that the child does not qualify for the issuance of a an orphan visa. Source: [http://www.calib.com/naic/faqs/eight.cfm](http://www.calib.com/naic/faqs/eight.cfm) > [@](#): > > A person seeking Medical Treatment in USA can apply for Visitor Visa(B2 Visa) for treatment purpose. The requirement for this is same as for Visitor Visa. Please refer Details on the requirements visitor visa requirements. > > In addition to these following must be produced: > > a)A valid statement/letter from a doctor or institution concerning proposed medical treatment > > b) Written confirmation from the medical facility that arrangements have been completed for treatment and where and from whom treatment will be received; > c) An estimate in writing from the facility or physician of how much the proposed treatment is likely to cost; > d) Proof that financial arrangements for payment of estimated expenses have been made; > e) A physician’s statement estimating the length of time required for the treatment. Source: [http://www.path2usa.com/VisitorVisa\_Medical.htm](http://www.path2usa.com/VisitorVisa_Medical.htm) In reviewing various US Embassy sites around the world, the information above appears accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b782af/32.png) [@Hermann\_Cheruscan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermann_Cheruscan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/25 "2003-02-23T04:59:13Z")
Well, at least surely her liver, kidneys, and corneas could be donated, if not the heart and lungs. And what about skin, there a dozens of people in RI who desperately need skin transplants. Whats up with the parents refusing to donate? You would think they would be eager to. I must say that the parents decision not to donate are making a lot of people say “See, look, gimme gimme gimme” ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/26 "2003-02-23T04:59:30Z")
How many young children in the world need organ transplants to stay alive? Should we put them all on the waiting list? If not why not? They’re all young children aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/27 "2003-02-23T05:14:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ring \* > \*\*How many young children in the world need organ transplants to stay alive? Should we put them all on the waiting list? If not why not? They’re all young children aren’t they? \*\* Just to clarify – I really don’t know how to answer those questions. Where do we draw the line? Children are children, people are people, and yet we certainly can’t be the world’s medical provider of last resort. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/28 "2003-02-23T05:22:04Z")
And, BTW in referencde to some comments above, may I point out, “non-citizen” **IS NOT THE SAME AS** _"illegal_ alien". For the purposes of that 5%, or for the _donors_ placing organs into the availability pool. I mean, really… As mentioned before, had the initial transplant gone right, we would never even have heard of it. I’m going to presume, until somebody produces actual evidence, that her immigration situation was within the bounds of normalcy. In any case, with organ donations it should be a simple matter of precedence of the greater need. Have we really grown so resentful and begrudging?? BTW, the mistake may be jeopardizing someone else’s life – whoever could have been the right recipient of the original organs did not get them! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/29 "2003-02-23T05:30:02Z")
Well, **Ringo** , it’s not a “universal provider” situation, it’s an “open MARKET” situation. Since in the USA medical care is allocated on the basis of ability to afford, rather than by state-mandated rationing, anyone who can afford to get treatment at a US hospital (and get the proper visas to be here) will be taken care of. It’s not like just anyone can show up on ourt shore and demand extraordinary treatments “just because.” ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/30 "2003-02-23T05:31:46Z")
Er, sorry, that should have read **Ring**. Darn fingers… ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/31 "2003-02-23T06:05:03Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by X~Slayer(ALE) \* > **Any person who** thinks_\* its right to deny a life saving operation to a child just because she happens to have born in the wrong country need to have their citizenship revoked. > \*\* So now we’re revoking citizenships based on politcal positions and what someone _thinks_? Mr. Ashcroft…is that you? ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/32 "2003-02-23T07:30:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JRDelirious \* > **I mean, really… As mentioned before, had the initial transplant gone right, we would never even have heard of it. I’m going to presume, until somebody produces actual evidence, that her immigration situation was within the bounds of normalcy.** Not that I have an opinion one way or the other, but there is this, from a [Yahoo! news story](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=514&e=2&cid=514&u=/ap/20030223/ap_on_he_me/transplant_error): > [@](#): > > Relatives have said her family paid a smuggler to bring them from their small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, to the United States so she could get medical care. Presumably, the services of a smuggler would not have been required had her immigration been on the level. Assuming, of course, that the relatives are telling the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2003, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/33 "2003-02-23T07:52:41Z")
Okay, let’s assume for the sake of argument that this is the truth – that a woman, knowing her daughter is dying of a rare heart condition, brings her to the U.S. for medical care, and doesn’t play by the rules in bringing her across the border. So that makes her an illegal alien at the moment she crosses the border. Now, considering we have this guy who is willing to help finance a major medical procedure for her – do you really think he’s not going to hire a good lawyer to regularize her status into that of a legal resident alien? In a state where nearly 15% of the population was born in Mexico, or to parents who were? Where problems with visas and such are a near-daily occurrence? And just how many children who need heart transplants do you think are trying to get into this country, anyway? I haven’t seen any flames of the INS for turning away 100,000 critically ill children at one fell swoop. If there’s five a year who fit the situation of Jesica, I’ll be quite surprised. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683/34 "2003-02-27T00:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ivylass \* > \*\ ***syncrolecyne** , could you explain further? Is there no such thing as health insurance in Mexico? \*\* I am not sure if I understand. You mean government health coverage? Yes, there is a system of public health care for those who cannot afford private care, but the waiting time for basic procedures (much less a complex operation that admittedly has been performed only a few times) is quite long. It is geared more toward essential health and emergency care. [http://www.healthaffairs.org/freecontent/v21n3/s8.htm](http://www.healthaffairs.org/freecontent/v21n3/s8.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-time-heart-lung-transplant-patient-an-illegal-alien/156683.md?page=1)